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Duma to consider in autumn amendments to law on retailers cost saving

MOSCOW, April 27, /ITAR-TASS/. The State Duma lower house of Russia’s parliament in autumn will return to the consideration of amendments to legislation that are aimed at cost saving for retailers, RF First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said in an interview to the Rossiya 24 news television channel.

“We promised to the retail store networks that we will help them, for example, to write off the networks’ costs related to theft. Representatives of retail store networks say that the meagre percentage to which they are entitled under Russian legislation (retailers are allowed to include less than one percent from the proceeds in the sum related to products’ losses due to theft) is totally inadequate, it is different from that of the EU countries and the United States,” Shuvalov said. In addition, he noted, retailers are dissatisfied with the requirement to maintain the trade outlets’ infrastructure and render an account of it in a manner that differs from the foreign practice.

“The request this kind of interaction from us and we are ready to provide it. But we say: please, show us your progress regarding how you interact with food producers, how you eliminate these malpractices that are forced on you by the suppliers of products and how you use the dispute resolution mechanism. So, as soon as we see this progress in reality we will certainly respond,” the first deputy prime minister said.

“We have arranged with the State Duma security committee and economy committee to suspend so far these bills that are in favour of the retail store networks and return to this issue in autumn and see the current practice of interaction with food producers. If anything has changed for the better or not, and then we will introduce certain benefits for them, which, in essence, will mean spending from the regional budgets. Because they ask for certain benefits and will pay less taxes,” Shuvalov said.

He stressed that the RF government and State Duma were ready to meet the retail store networks halfway only if they start to develop competitive relations and that “there will be no cartels, no collusions, that food producers will have the possibility to come to retail networks and without any exactions, additional forced services to supply their products for sale.

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