Posted on 07/07/2002 1:18:03 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
As the summer sale gets under way, critics flay strict discount rules. But the restrictions on sales have strong support
BRUSSELS - The twice-yearly squeeze has begun.
The beginning of the summer holidays also marks the start of shopping sales in Europe.
These events are widely reported in the media and attract a crowd level normally unseen at any other time of the year.
That is largely due to the fact that sales are relatively rare in Europe.
Strict rules govern how retailers conduct their business, including how and when they can get rid of their unwanted stock.
In many European countries, shops are allowed to hold sales no more than twice a year, and only during fixed periods.
There are even regulations on discounting products outside the sales seasons.
In Belgium, for instance, the summer sale lasts throughout the month of July. Its winter equivalent usually takes place in January.
'During the six preceding weeks, shops cannot announce price cuts,' said Mr Pascal Ernotte, judicial counsellor at the UCM agency which defends the interests of independent and small and medium enterprises.
Infringements can lead to fines of up to 50,000 euros (S$87,000).
Storewide discounts outside the defined sales periods are allowed on only four days of the year and if they are organised by trade associations.
In Belgium and many other European Union (EU) countries, a host of other national rules restrict the use of discounts, premiums, free gifts, promotional contests and games.
A controversial case occurred earlier this year when two currencies were being used in many EU countries as the euro was being phased in.
Leading clothing retailer C&A decided to offer shoppers in Germany a 20-per-cent discount if they used debit and charge cards instead of cash.
What it considered a good move to cut queues, and increase turnover, was deemed illegal instead.
The company was slapped with a one-million-euro fine for defying several rulings.
A state court judged that the discount - later extended to all customers after two associations promoting fair competition filed suit - had violated a 70-year-old German law that forbids retailers from offering limited-time discounts on a store's entire stock during the non-sanctioned sales periods.
Critics say antiquated rules such as this are anti-competition and put consumers at a disadvantage.
They are also measures blamed for undermining EU competitiveness and economic growth.
The European Commission wants to remove outdated restrictions on sales promotions within the EU and has put forward a proposal in this regard. 'This proposal would not only establish a level playing field of European businesses wishing to use and communicate sales promotions but also ensure that consumers benefit from increased choice,' said EU Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein.
But its efforts are being blocked by several governments.
Small retailers in particular oppose reforms as they would come under more intense competition from big businesses.
Some officials also argue against modernising competition laws, saying that consumers would not be able to know if price cuts were genuine, if they were flooded with discount campaigns throughout the year.
Others just do not want things to change.
'Sales are a tradition, it's French culture,' said Mr Charles Melcer of the French clothing federation, which represents those in the trade.
'Fixed dates allow us to have all the media attention on us. It's a great promotion campaign that nobody could buy for themselves.'
Strict rules that govern the sales
SOME of the restrictions on holding sales - which vary from nation to nation - within the EU include:
Ban on sales below cost.
Maximum-limit values on discounts.
Ban on new stock being discounted in blanket sales.
Annual sales are sanctioned, usually twice yearly, on fixed dates and for limited periods of time.
Storewide discounts outside sanctioned sales periods can take place only in connection with store closures or key anniversaries.
Only last year did the German government repeal laws limiting discounts to 3 per cent and banning retailers from offering gifts and money-back guarantees.
Has there ever been any other land of liberty in modern history? Say in the last 500 years. I can't think of any.
That, my friend is Europe. The society that the Clinton's admire so much and American Democrats that have not spent any real time there, other than a vacation or state supported school where every need was met. This is the Europe the Founding Fathers wanted to leave behind. This is the Europe so many immigrants left behind. The trouble is, many immigrants or their descendants did not know the reason they left. This sort of control is economic tyranny that is almost as disastrous as political tyranny, and my very well be the same thing.
Bon Appetite!
"Where the prices are INNN-SAAAAAAANE!!!!!" quoth the ads. And all year 'round, too.
Until just a few years ago, it was illegal in the UK to sell books for anything less than full retail price. That might explain why so many otherwise intelligent people in that country fell for so much socialist BS: They couldn't afford to buy any books to free their minds.
Sounds like the publishers were behind this law: it ensures that sales of used books don't undercut sales of their new books.
The music industry in the USA has made noises about there being "something wrong" or vaguely shady about retailers selling used CD's; the RIAA would love to ban sales of used CD's, or force people to pay full price.
It's not as though the RIAA and MPAA have not already used Congress to pass anti-consumer legislation: consider the DMCA, for instance.
Wow. I knew the Eco[logical]-Nazis were big in Europe, but I had no idea the Eco[nomic]-Nazis were so firmly in control!
Maybe it's time we banned the gratuitous use of the word "nazi". If you read the story you posted, you would have noticed that the law in question is 70 years old - that is, it was passed before the Nazis came to power. It isn't a "nazi" thing; it's just a different set of cultural assumptions about what the government should or should not regulate. I think the American set of assumptions are better, but then, I am an American. That doesn't mean I should go around calling people "nazi" because they think different from what I am used to, though.
I still liked his use of econo-nazi in this case. I think we all know that this term as well as femi-nazis and enviro-nazis aren't actual branches of Hitlers' Nazi regime.
Solde
Solde
Solde
We went in January a few years back and hit the sales in Paris, I thought the sale prices sucked.
This does help explain those little tiny electronic stores in NYC that have the window full of electronic gadgets, etc. They are always having huge SALES and going out of business. The prices are always higher than Best Buys or Circuit City.
I've been told that without the VAT taxes added in, it appears to be a huge deal to dumb Euros. heh heh
You must be too young to remember "fair trade" rules in the Good Ole U-S-A. Up until about 1970 major appliances, air fares, interstate shipping and light bulbs(!) inter alia, had to be sold at prices set by the government or by manufacturers. Discounters had their stock pulled by the manufacturers. It was a cozy relationship that kept profits high and competition out. It was kinda like the reserve clause in major league baseball.
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