Retailers’ currency rates face EU probe

CONSUMERS are being ripped off by large retail stores which are failing to pass on the benefits of the falling value of sterling, Dublin MEP Eoin Ryan says.

He has asked the European Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes to investigate these retailers as a matter of urgency.

“This is a very important issue for Irish consumers who are very sensitive at all times to currency changes, but particularly now during these difficult economic times,” he said.

Retail chains must index euro and sterling currency changes within their price structures for consumer products, he said.

It was not acceptable, he claimed, that the exact same products are sold in the same retail shop, priced at €30, for example, in the Republic of Ireland, but selling for £14 in Britain or Northern Ireland.

Mr Ryan said he had also seen examples of goods selling for £99 in the north that were being sold for €150 in the republic.

“These two examples of price differences for the same products sold in the same retail shops, but in different jurisdictions is unacceptable.

“This is why I am calling on Commissioner Kroes to investigate as a matter of urgency these very important issues. We need action now to stop this practice,” he said.

A recent Forfás report pointed out differences in the operational and trading structures between different jurisdictions.

“But this does not justify for one moment large retailers not changing the price of consumer goods to reflect currency changes — and ripping off Irish consumers,” said Mr Ryan.