PRACTICE OF GIVING SHORT WEIGHT BECOMES SERIOUS FACTOR OF PRICE
FORMATION IN ARMENIAN CONSUMER MARKET

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Short weight giving, which has now
become a serious factor of price formation, is one of the most
widespread violations in the Armenian consumer market, Abgar Yeghoyan,
chairman of Protection of Consumer Rights NGO, said at the January 10
press conference. In his words, under the RA Law on Ensuring Unity of
Measurements, compulsory checks of scales have to be done at least once
a year. Whereas, 2007 data of the RA National Institute of Metrology
shows that out of nearly 25,000 scales used in trade facilities, only
6,000 were checked. The fine for using uncheked scales is only 50-100
thousand drams (about 165-330 USD).

A. Yeghoyan said after making some changes in electronic scales used in
retail trade, these scales can weigh 200-300 grams less. As for
household scales used in street trade, their use is forbidden by law.
According to A. Yeghoyan, such scales weigh 300-500 grams less.

"It is obvious that the problem is extremely important and requires an
urgent and coordinated solution," A. Yeghoyan said. In his opinion,
control of the use of scales should not be limited only to activities
of inspecting bodies.

In order to solve this problem, the NGO proposes that in particular,
punitive measures for violation of the rules on use of scales should be
made stricter by increasing the fine up to 200-300 thousand drams.
Besides, it is proposed installing weight checkers in trade points,
which would allow customers to check the weight of the purchased
commodity on the spot.