The “Pupil’s Basket”, a measure aimed at keeping prices as low as possible, comes into force from today August 28 to October 15.

Development Minister Takis Theodoricakos stressed that there is no justification for any markup on school supplies, but instead, businesses should exhaust all profit reduction margins and prices should be better than last year.

Moreover, the relevant products are included in the provisions on the profit cap and for this there will be immediate checks by DIMEA.

The student’s basket includes:

-School bags
-Pen & pencil boxes
-Books/notebooks
-Wooden or mechanical pencils
-Coloured markers / crayons
-Pens
-Erasers
-Set of geometric instruments (rulers etc.)

Businesses participating in the initiative shall include at least one (1) product in the list they send to the Ministry of Development if they have products in this category for sale to consumers. The obligated parties shall send a list of consumer products to the Ministry of Development on a weekly basis on Wednesdays by 9:00 a.m.

The information of the consumer public about the products participating in the initiative is mandatory: a) Through a special sign placed on the products or on the physical or electronic sales area or on any means by which the products are advertised to the consumer; b) Through the posting, at the entrance of each store, of a prominent list/list of the products that make up the household basket and the prices at which the products are offered; and c) Through at least one separate point of sale, in a prominent position in the store’s

Businesses participating in the initiative can access the special label by sending a request to [email protected]. They must also ensure that the products declared in the list of consumer products sent to the Ministry of Development are in stock in their stores and are seamlessly available to consumers.

If stocks of a product participating in the initiative are exhausted in one or more stores, businesses must temporarily replace the product that is exhausted with a corresponding product available at the same or lower price and in the same or larger quantity. If no such product is available in the store, the obligated parties shall ensure that the store in which the product was exhausted is supplied within two (2) days with a sufficient quantity of the exhausted product or inform the Ministry of Development and Investment and the e-katanalotis digital platform for the permanent replacement of the product in all their stores.

The new product should also be in stock. Permanent product replacement is allowed for one time only until the new regular product list submission.