A decree of April 16, 2024, relating to information on the price of products whose quantity has decreased, will soon make the display of certain hitherto hidden indications obligatory. Good news for consumers.
When it’s time to do your shopping, you grab your favorite product. And if the price remains the same, you have the impression that the quantity has decreased for some time. This phenomenon, known as shrinkflation (or rduflation in French), is a reality which allows distributors to maintain a price, by reducing the quantity of product. Lay’s, Lipton, Magnum… So many brands that have been singled out for this practice in recent months.
Good news for consumers, this indelicacy should soon end. The decree of April 16, 2024, relating to consumer information on the price of products whose quantity has decreased, was published on May 4 in the Official Journal.
from July 1, Distributors will be required to indicate whether the quantity of a product has decreased. In detail, this concerns companies or groups of natural or legal persons operating in the sector of distribution of consumer products which operate, directly or indirectly, a store whose sales area is greater than 400 square meters.
A display obligation indicating the price increase
This order provides for prepackaged consumer products of constant nominal quantity which have undergone a downward change in weight or volume specific obligation to inform consumers by the main players in predominantly food retail distribution, relating to the indication of the reduction in the quantity sold and the upward trend in the price of the product reduced to the unit of measurement, specifies the text.
Clearly, if the quantity of a product has been reduced, which therefore leads to an increase in the price reduced to the unit of measurement (weight or volume), distributors must indicate, in addition to legal information on prices in force, the following statement: For this product, the quantity sold has gone from XY (weight or volume) and its price to (specify unit of measurement concerned) increased by …% or …. This mainly concerns foodstuffs and non-food products which are marketed in a constant quantity (weight, volume). On the other hand, non-prepackaged foods, the bulk image, or variable quantity foods are not concerned.
For this product, the quantity sold increased from XY (weight or volume) and its price at (specify the unit of measurement concerned) increased by …% or ….
This obligation, which must appear directly on the packaging or on a label attached to or placed near the product, in a visible, legible manner and in the same font size as that used to indicate the unit price of the product, applies for a period of 2 months from the date of sale in the reduced quantity. In the event of a breach, a fine of 3,000 euros for a natural person and 15,000 euros for a legal entity can be applied.
