Fines of up to 16,000 lei for selling expired products

Fines of 8,000 to 16,000 lei will be imposed for selling products with the expired shelf life. A bill to this effect was passed by Parliament in the first reading, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Ministry of Economy initially proposed fines of 2,000 to 4,000 lei, but the lawmakers considered they are too small and increased them. First Deputy Speaker Liliana Palihovich said she will suggest examining the possibility of imposing a fine of 10% of the value of the expired products when the bill is debated in the second reading. According to her, the fine proposed by the Ministry is too small for companies that sometimes have stores of expired products to the value of 1 million lei. The Consumer Protection Agency is empowered to carry out inspections and impose fines.