June 5 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said it has fined local food producer Olinesa Premium with 37,000 levs ($21,300/18,900 euro) for product imitation.
The competition regulator imposed the sanction, acting upon the request of food producer Konsul, which owns the mayonnaise production plant Krassi in the city of Plovdiv, the CPC said in a statement.
According to Konsul, its registered trademark and manufacturing design of the packaging of its mayonnaise have been copied by Olinesa Premium in four of its own similar products, which represents unfair competition and can be misleading to customers.
The fine is equal to 0.01% of Olinesa Premium's net sales revenue in 2018. In 2017, the company was fined 254,000 levs by the regulator for misleading advertising.
Olinesa Premium, which started operating in 1994 in Kostinbrod, near Sofia, mainly produces mayonnaise and emulsified sauces, ketchup as well as sunflower oil.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)