May 27 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's competition regulator has imposed a 4.66 million lev ($2.6 million/2.3 million euro) fine on eMAG, one of the leading local online retailers, due to misleading advertising and malpractices used during promotion campaigns.
The fine, imposed on Romania-based Dante International, which runs eMAG, was provoked by a claim by another online retailer, Store.bg, which argued that eMAG misled consumers about price reductions in several promotional campaigns in 2014 and 2015, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said on its website late on Thursday.
eMAG had hiked product prices just before the beginning of the campaigns and then reduced them by up to 70%, the regulator said. Its decision can be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court within 14 days.
In a separate statement, sent to SeeNews late on Friday, eMAG said it cannot accept the regulator's decision as it is wrong and ungrounded, and will appeal it in the local court. Moreover, it will notify the European Commission about the issue.
"We will continue to invest in order to create added value for consumers and for the Bulgarian online market," eMAG said.
Local publishing houses Helicon and Colibri were also fined - by 281,552 levs and 71,000 levs, respectively, for taking part in eMag campaigns. Both companies stated they do not take part in the organisational process of eMAG's promotional campaigns.
Before the latest record fine, the regulator had imposed fines worth a total of 900,000 levs on eMag for several promotional campaigns.
On Wednesday, the competition regulator launched a probe against eMAG's subsidiary, online retailer Fashion Days, for false advertising during its Easter promotional campaign.
eMAG was set up in 2011 and became part of South Africa-based global internet and media group Naspers in October 2012.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)