The Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency (GCCA) has released its statistical overview covering the first three months of the current year in the direction of consumer rights protection.
In the first three months of the current year, the Agency received 619 consumer applications and handled 2078 hotline calls, marking a 95% increase in applications compared to the previous year.
During the reporting period, the Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency (GCCA) identified 80 violations of consumer group rights in 142 cases. Due to non-compliance with obligations imposed by the GCCA, 28 traders were fined in 48 cases, with total penalties amounting to 50 325 GEL. For consumer protection, 56 commitment agreements were signed in 67 cases, where traders committed to modifying their internal business policies and restoring the rights of affected consumers who suffered due to unfair business practices.
According to the reporting period, 65% of submitted applications concerned online transactions, while 35% related to in-person purchases. From a regional perspective, Tbilisi accounted for the largest share of applications 80%, followed by Adjara 5%, Imereti 5%, Kvemo Kartli 3% , Kakheti 2%, Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti 1%, etc.
According to the data for the first three months of the current year, the demand for a refund is 201, the repair or replacement of defective items is 176, 140 for restoring the right to a defective service, 39 applications related to the delivery of goods within the legally established timeframe, and the rest is 63. According to the statistics, 68% of the applications related to the wholesale and retail sector, followed by transport and warehousing with 12%, Accommodation and food service activities 2%, the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector accounted for 2%, while the remaining 16% concerned other types of economic activities.
