Many doubt that the "same" products such as chocolate, detergent or diapers are not only cheaper on the German market - but also of better quality than in Serbia. But no one officially checks that
In the three years she has been living in Germany, Jelena Barać has noticed that the quality of the products she buys there differs from the products sold in Serbia.
He told "Vreme" that the difference is big primarily in prices, but also in the quality of certain products.
"In Germany, I was first surprised by the large amount of organic products, which are affordable to almost everyone, while in Serbia, due to the prices, I never stopped at such products, I was least interested in the quality," says Barać.
As far as quality is concerned, he says, there are differences in products from technical goods to food.
"First of all, I am thinking of production for certain markets. Thus, certain cured meat products for the EU market are made with a higher percentage of meat," she says.
As an example, he cites the turkey parisier, which is made with 75 percent meat, and 400 grams cost 2,5 euros. In Serbia, he says, you cannot find such a high-quality parisian for that money.
For example, pork sausages usually contain about 55 percent meat and the price per kilogram is around 900 dinars.
Prices the same or higher
Our people in Germany are surprised that the prices of meat are the same as in Serbia, which, they say, has never happened before.
When it comes to the quality of food, our interlocutor says that the difference can be felt in the taste, but also in the shelf life of the product.
"For me, the best example is Nutella, which tastes different from Nutella from Serbian markets." Its price is 770 dinars for 700 grams in Maxi, while in the most expensive store in Frankfurt it is 4,59 euros for 750 grams," she compares.
He also says that Nutella in Serbia, a few days after opening, "gets a greasy layer on the surface", which does not happen in Germany.
Furthermore, Milka's chocolates are not packed in less than one hundred grams, which is a trick in Serbia. Jelena's favorite sweet, Ferrer balls, cost from 2,5 to 3,9 euros, depending on whether they are on discount, while in Serbia they cost around 900 dinars.
"Since I have small children, I have been familiar with every price of diapers, wet wipes, and the like, and I always say, if I had more space, I would wear diapers as well." It's not a matter of saving 500 dinars, but of principles," she says.
The only places where the principles don't apply, he says, are the favorite products that remind him of his childhood, Plazma Biscuit or Smoky. They are always taken to Germany.
Assumptions, no evidence
While there is no dispute about the prices because they are visible to the naked eye, it is unclear whether lower quality products are really arriving on the Serbian market, although many people would swear to it.
The problem is that in Serbia there are no comparative analyzes that would make these claims official, and this was confirmed for "Vreme" by the Association for Consumer Protection of Vojvodina (UZPV).
"Manufacturers in Serbia are obliged to apply the laws and by-laws that are in force, and they concern food safety and quality, with the fact that we are of the opinion that food quality is certainly better in EU countries, but only because the laws are more rigorous and reference numbers above those that are applied in our country. We hope that Serbia will soon open chapters related to this topic," said the association.
At the beginning of 2017, the practice of so-called "dual product quality" was discovered, i.e. the difference in the quality of goods of the same manufacturer that are marketed both within the EU itself and on markets outside of it. The reactions were sharp, both among EU countries and in official Brussels.
The former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that he will not accept that in some parts of Europe people are being sold food of a lower quality than in other countries.
It is unknown if there is such a thing in Serbia
"Dual quality is revealed by controlling the quality of products purchased on the territory of the RS and on the territory of the EU state, and in this way, through the results of a comparative analysis, we would get a true picture of whether goods of lower quality are sold in the RS," explained the UZPV.
In 2017, the European Commission introduced a special provision related to dual quality in the Unfair Business Practices Directive.
Since then, the Commission's joint research center has conducted several studies that have shown that within the EU, the share of food products with the same or similar packaging, but different composition, is decreasing. While these products made up 31 percent of the tested samples back in 2018 and 2019, in 2021 their share dropped to 24 percent, according to the European Commission's website.
It was announced. that the Commission will report in 2024 on the implementation of the Modernization Directive and its better implementation, including the rules related to "dual quality".
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