1 July (BNS)

The Estonian Consumer Protection Board said on Friday that as the period during which it was mandatory to display prices in two currencies in Estonia ended on 1 July, it will end supervision of compliance with the demand but still recommends sellers to continue showing prices in two currencies.

"Even though the legal obligation to show prices in two currencies no longer exists, the showing of prices in two currencies should be welcomed and shows the importance attached by the company to developing good client relationships. This is particularly important in the case of products and services that are bought relatively seldom and the prices of which consumers are not yet used to," the director of the Consumer Protection Board Andres Sooniste said.

During the period when the requirement to show prices in kroons and euros was in effect, from 1 July 2010 to 30 June this year, the Consumer Protection Board conducted checks at 6 798 companies.

The proportion of companies at which violations were detected declined constantly from 47% in the first month to 7% at the end of the period. While at the beginning of the period the most common problem was failure to display the price in euros, then later on shortcomings in rounding off prices emerged as the biggest issue.

Estonia switched to the euro currency on 1 January of this year.