The Trade Ministry has prepared a draft regulation that would introduce new rules for shopping festivals and require chain stores to allocate shelf space for local products.
Under the draft, temporary commercial events whose main purpose is sales and which bring together many businesses would be defined as shopping festivals, regardless of the name used for the event.
Organizers would be required to apply in writing to the Trade Ministry’s provincial directorate at least two months before a festival.
If the event is planned at a regional or national level, the application would be made directly to the ministry.
The draft also says at least 20 of the businesses taking part in a festival should be selected from firms based in the district, province or region where the event is held.
Professional organizations in the area would also be asked for their views before approval.
The final decision on whether a festival can be held would be made by the provincial governor.
The draft also includes measures aimed at supporting locally produced goods.
Chain stores would be required to allocate at least 20 percent of shelf space for shoes, ready-to-wear clothing, toys and stationery products to domestically produced goods.
They would also have to reserve at least 1 percent of their sales area for local products, particularly goods produced by women’s cooperatives.
The rules would apply to chains with at least five branches if one of them is a large store, as well as chains with at least 10 branches where the stores are below 400 square meters.
The draft is expected to be assessed through the regulatory process before any final version enters into force.
