With a revised bill and in the presence of the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, George Papanastasiou, the discussion continued in the Commerce Committee on setting a maximum selling price for bottled water at specific points of sale.
The revised bill includes all bottled water packages, namely 330 ml, 500 ml, 750 ml and one liter. While it has been decided to set a single selling price for the structures that will be included in the decree, some issues still remain, such as how this maximum price will be determined at points of sale.
Minister George Papanastasiou told the Committee that the Ministry's aim is to place a single price in the decree for all the structures that will be included, taking into account the specific costs in specific structures.
The aim, as he said, is to provide a product to the market with a reasonable profit margin for all structures and at the same time protect the consumer.
The Minister thanked the Committee for the constructive discussion and wished to take the bill to the Plenary as soon as possible, so that by February 1, the relevant decree can be implemented, which will give the right message to consumers under conditions of accuracy.
In his statements after the end of the session, the Minister of Energy stated that this particular bill will still receive some amendments, after some additional statements by members of parliament, before the article-by-article debate.
He added that the new bill will include all water packages, following a study conducted on specific packages. He recalled that the bill's requirement is that there be sufficient water at the specific point of sale to be sold based on the decree price, and noted that each structure will choose a package to be sold at the decree price.
The price that will apply will be uniform for all structures included in the decree, he added, and said that the Ministry will be careful not to increase the selling price of some structures with the decree.
DISY MP Averof Neophytou, speaking to the Committee, said that based on the agreement signed by the state with the airport managers, the first 23 cents of the gross income goes to the state coffers and wondered how this compares to the reasonable profit of a kiosk or a stadium. He spoke of yet another "flare" bill without, as he said, any result and stated that in the end it will cost the consumer more.
AKEL MP, Costas Costas, speaking to the Committee, welcomed the Minister's stance and the changes made to advance the bill, while raising the issue of the methodology for determining the reasonable profit for calculating the ceiling, as well as the extent to which a problem is created if the price is uniform for all Cypriot waters.
DIKO MP Panikos Leonidou, who raised similar concerns, also noted that the long discussion on the issue contributed to greater consensus.
Environmentalist MP Stavros Papadouris, in his statements after the Committee, said that there was a great debate about the water ceiling, saying that the Committee was accused of being late. However, as he said, if the initial bill had passed we would not have had the positive changes we have today. He also mentioned that another session will be held on the issue and it will be brought to the Plenary in 2-3 weeks.
Source: KYPE
