Santo Domingo.- The deputy Gabriela María Abreu Santos, representative of La Vega, submitted this week to the Chamber of Deputies a bill that seeks to establish the National System of Consultation, Registration and Reporting of Prices (Sirepreco), a public and free platform that would oblige commercial establishments in the Dominican Republic to register and periodically update the prices of mass consumption products.
The initiative, which is backed by more than 154 lawmakers from the ruling party and the opposition, aims to combat speculation, strengthen state oversight, and guarantee consumers' right to access truthful and timely information.
The legislative piece that was sent for study to the Permanent Commission of Industry and Commerce this week aims to guarantee citizens' access to truthful and updated information on the prices of mass consumption products, as well as to allow the denunciation of commercial irregularities. The system will allow consulting, comparing, and reporting prices from a mobile application, a web page, or kiosks in public spaces.
Among the objectives of this new system, referred to by this bill as "SIREPRECO," are to prevent speculative practices, strengthen state oversight, and facilitate the formulation of public policies through early warnings about price fluctuations. The tool would be under the responsibility of the National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Pro Consumidor).
Currently, there are two initiatives of this type; on the one hand, there is the "Dominican Price Information System (SIDIP 2.0)" from Pro Consumidor, and on the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has the "Fair Prices" platform active, which, according to the proponents, has scarce geographical coverage, a low level of promotion, a lack of frequent price updates, low integration with other public entities and local businesses, as well as a user-unfriendly interface for users of different socioeconomic and technological levels.
When consulting both platforms digitally this Friday, June 20th, with products like meats and eggs, we were able to ascertain that the Pro Consumidor system is outdated since 2023, while the Precio Justos tool of the MICM has more recent prices, but does not indicate dates. It states that the prices of the products contained in the application are updated weekly, and that they correspond to a price monitoring carried out between Monday and Thursday of each week and updated in the application every Friday by this ministry.
Another difference with these platforms that the project proposes is to mandatorily require information from providers, conduct inspections, and guarantee complaint and reporting mechanisms. Likewise, the project contemplates sanctions for establishments that fail to register or manipulate prices.
For Congresswoman Abreu Santos, the lack of a legal framework that obliges goods and services providers to register and periodically update their prices has severely limited the effectiveness of current tools. In her opinion, these platforms have been reduced to simple reference mechanisms that do not accurately or in real time reflect the behavior of the national market, thus weakening their usefulness for both consumers and the formulation of public policies.
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