The Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency (GCCA) has released its statistical overview covering the first 4 months of the current year in the direction of consumer rights protection.
In the first 4 months of the current year, the Agency received 835 consumer applications and handled 2553 hotline calls, marking a 110% increase in applications compared to the previous year.
During the reporting period, the Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency (GCCA) identified 98 violations of consumer group rights in 246 cases. Due to non-compliance with obligations imposed by the GCCA, 41 traders were fined in 61 cases, with total penalties amounting to 60 176 GEL. For consumer protection, 68 commitment agreements were signed in 80 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, 67% of submitted applications concerned online trading, while 33% related to in-person purchases. From a regional perspective, Tbilisi accounted for the largest share of applications 80%, followed by Adjara 6%, Imereti 4%, Kvemo Kartli 3% , Kakheti 2%, Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti 1%, etc.
According to the data for the first 4 months of the current year, the demand for a refund is 301, the repair or replacement of defective items is 223, 182 for restoring the right to a defective service, 52 applications related to the delivery of goods within the legally established timeframe, and the rest is 77. According to the statistics, 70% of the applications related to the wholesale and retail sector, followed by transport and warehousing with 11%, Accommodation and food service activities 2%, the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector accounted for 2%, while the remaining 15% concerned other types of economic activities.
