Price rules for shops

Every shop in Suriname must display its prices clearly in SRD, give a receipt in Dutch with fixed details on every sale, and keep a copy for ten years. Basic goods are subject to maximum margins and prices. EZOTI's Economic Control Service (ECD) checks this, and since 2025 and 2026 it has been noticeably stricter: warnings, goods taken off the shelves and temporary closures.

On this page (14)

• Which rules apply
• Displaying prices in the shop
• Prices in SRD or in dollars?
• The receipt: what it must show
• Maximum prices and margins on basic goods
• The Economic Control Service (ECD)
• Fuel prices in 2026
• VAT in your prices
• Discounts, offers and sales
• Checklist for your shop
• When an inspector comes
• What if...
• Sources
• Frequently asked questions

Which rules apply

Rule	What it covers	Supervisor
Price Setting and Price Monitoring Act (Decree), S.B. 1984 no. 66, amended by S.B. 1996 no. 21	The minister can set maximum profit margins and maximum prices for goods, services and rents; inspection of books; sanctions	ECD (EZOTI)
Price Display Decree (Prijsaanduidingsbesluit), S.B. 1998 no. 15, amended by S.B. 2024 no. 20	Price display in the shop, currency, receipts and invoices, retention, importers' records	ECD
Standards Act and the labelling technical regulation (SSB 003:2013)	What must be on the label of prepackaged goods; see Standards and certification	SSB, ECD
VAT Act 2022	Consumer prices including VAT, VAT on the receipt; see VAT in Suriname	Tax authority
Civil Code, art. 6:194 and Book 7	Misleading advertising about price and offers; consumer rights for defects; see New Civil Code	Courts

Breaching the price rules is an economic offence. The decree itself provides for imprisonment of up to one year and a fine for intentional breaches, and lighter penalties for unintentional ones (art. 7). After a conviction the minister can have the business closed for up to one month (art. 9) and revoke a licence (art. 11).

Displaying prices in the shop

Anyone offering goods for sale at retail must show prices in a way that is clearly visible and understandable to everyone: on each product, or on lists posted visibly. This also applies to the shop window (art. 6 Price Display Decree). The price is in Surinamese dollars, with the symbol "SRD" (art. 7).

• Loose goods such as potatoes, onions, rice and flour: put a price per kilo or per unit on the sign. In inspections in December 2025, prices were often missing for exactly these products. Work out the price per kilo with Unit price comparison.
• Shelf price and till price must match. The ECD spot-checks whether the price in the till system matches the shelf.
• Gas cylinders, fuel and other goods with a fixed price: post the price visibly at the entrance or the till.
• Price list for your counter or window: Price list or menu.

Prices in SRD or in dollars?

Until February 2024 it was prohibited to display prices in another currency, except with permission of the Foreign Exchange Commission (for example for airline tickets). That ban conflicted with the Act on Renaming and Converting Guilder Amounts to Dollar Amounts (S.B. 2003 no. 89), which requires prices in SRD but allows a second currency. Since S.B. 2024 no. 20 the rules are:

1. The SRD price is mandatory, clearly visible and legible on the goods.
2. In addition you may show the price in another currency, such as USD or EUR.
3. The customer may always pay in SRD, unless you expressly agreed otherwise.
4. Conversion is at the Central Bank of Suriname rate applicable at that moment. According to the explanatory note and the ECD you state that rate clearly if you also show a foreign price.

A price tag reading only "USD 25" is therefore not allowed in a shop. If you price in dollars because you buy in dollars, add the SRD price and update it when the rate changes. Today's rate: Exchange rates today. In contracts (for example rent or large deliveries) the Civil Code says a debt in foreign currency may be paid in SRD, unless effective payment in that currency was agreed (art. 6:121 Civil Code). In December 2025 the consumer association Consumentenkring raised residential rents in foreign currency with EZOTI; at our last check there was no rule on this.

The receipt: what it must show

S.B. 2024 no. 20 (9 February 2024) tightened the requirements for receipts and invoices; those provisions have applied since May 2024. The reason: complaints that till receipts did not show what had been bought. The receipt or invoice must be in Dutch. Keep a copy of every receipt for ten years, on paper or digitally; this matches the retention duty under the VAT Act.

Detail	Shop (retail)	Wholesale	Service provider
Business name and address as registered with the KKF	Yes	Yes, on an authenticated invoice with printed letterhead	Yes, invoice with printed letterhead
Buyer's name and address	No	Yes	Yes
Correct description of goods or service	Yes	Yes	Yes, plus duration or period
Unit price, quantity, net content and size	Yes	Yes	Not applicable
Total price, VAT and total including VAT	Yes	Yes	Yes
Date of sale or delivery	Yes	Yes	Yes
Warranty period, if applicable	Yes	Yes	Yes

"Correct description" means the customer must be able to read what they bought. Codes, abbreviations or Chinese characters without a Dutch description do not qualify. In January 2025 the ECD temporarily closed supermarkets without a working till system or with receipts in an unreadable language, until the owner had a compliant till system.

The decree requires a receipt, not a till. A small business can therefore work with a sequentially numbered receipt book or a printed receipt with all details. For supermarkets, however, the ECD demanded a working, compliant till system in January 2025; for a larger shop that is the norm in practice. Make one with our Receipt maker or, for business customers, an Invoice generator, and check that every field above is on it. How VAT works on the receipt: VAT in Suriname.

Importers and wholesalers have extra duties: every importer enters the invoices and notes for each shipment in a register with a running number per year (art. 2), and a wholesaler keeps invoices on imports and sales on the premises and hands them to the ECD at once on request (art. 4).

Maximum prices and margins on basic goods

Under the Price Setting and Price Monitoring Act the EZOTI minister can set maximum profit margins (art. 2) and maximum prices (art. 3) by order for designated goods, services and rents. Before such a measure is taken, the business organisations must be consulted, unless it is urgent (art. 6). In practice it works like this:

• EZOTI publishes a list of maximum prices for basic and strategic goods per importer about every two weeks, for wholesale and for consumers. The list is searchable on Maximum prices of basic goods. You may always charge less.
• The permitted shop price is calculated from your purchase price plus the set margin, separately for wholesale and retail. If you cannot show your purchase invoice, the ECD resets the price to the list price. So keep every purchase invoice at hand in the shop or digitally.
• Differences between shops are not automatically price gouging: importers buy at different prices and sometimes there is an intermediary. Each link may take its margin, but no more.
• In the interior prices are higher because of transport; EZOTI is talking with importers about cheaper transport.

SRD Check

On 16 March 2026 EZOTI launched the web app SRD Check. Customers scan a QR code on a flyer in the shop and see the set wholesale and retail prices of about twenty basic goods, such as cooking oil, baby formula, brown beans, potatoes and onions. The number of products was to grow to about fifty in the following months. Customers can also enter prices and file complaints; an EZOTI team checks those reports before approving them. Telesur customers can use the app without data. So assume your customer will compare your price with the official one. Work out your margins with Price and markup.

The Economic Control Service (ECD)

The ECD is EZOTI's enforcement service. It checks prices and margins, price display, receipts and till systems, but also labels, expiry dates, hygiene, licences and illegal products such as cigarettes and alcohol. After the 2024 amendment businesses got time to adapt; since January 2025 the ministry has announced stricter enforcement. In March 2026 EZOTI told business organisations that this adjustment period was over and that compliance with the Price Display Decree would be enforced more strictly from 1 July 2026. In 2026 the service kept visiting businesses on complaints and in routine checks. According to the minister, the ECD had about 35 to 40 staff at the end of 2025 and went out more than 120 times in a busy week. In October 2026 the minister announced more resources and more special police officers (BAVPs), also for the districts.

What the ECD may do

• Enter any place where an offence may reasonably be taking place; a home only with an assistant public prosecutor (art. 13 decree).
• On first demand inspect your books and records on prices and margins and ask for oral information (art. 18).
• Take invoices and notes against a receipt; originals are returned within fourteen days (art. 5 Price Display Decree).
• Seize goods, also on a reasonable suspicion that an offence will be committed, and have them sold at the set price (art. 15 and 16 decree).
• Draw up an official report. Settlement then follows through the service or the Public Prosecutor.

What happens in practice

• A warning or instruction, with immediate correction: put prices up, correct the till price.
• Expired or unlabelled products (such as chicken or fish without a label) taken off the shelves at once.
• Price reset to the set price if you have no purchase invoice.
• Temporary closure until the breach is remedied, for example without a compliant till system or with serious hygiene problems.
• EZOTI is building a blacklist of shopkeepers who repeatedly break the law (December 2025).

In 2026 the minister stressed that the ECD aims at compliance rather than punishment, and that flyers would be made in Chinese and Portuguese, among other languages, for shopkeepers who do not speak Dutch. Labels should preferably be in Dutch or English.

Fuel prices in 2026

Fuel is a cost for almost every shop, through your own transport and through your suppliers' prices. On 18 March 2026 the government introduced a maximum fuel price (price cap) because of the international crisis, for all new cargoes from that date. At the end of March 2026 the cap was SRD 53.27 per litre of diesel and SRD 48.32 per litre of unleaded. It costs the state over SRD 350 million a month in lost revenue. On 4 August 2026 the government decided to keep prices unchanged until further notice; on 21 August there was still no decision on phasing it out. Bear in mind the cap may be lifted or phased out. Work out the effect on your costs with Trip and delivery cost and Import cost calculator.

VAT in your prices

Consumer prices always include VAT. The receipt shows VAT and the total including VAT separately. In December 2025 the consumer association reported that this is missing on many till receipts; both the ECD and the tax authority pay attention to it. If you are not registered for VAT, you show no VAT, but the other details still apply. Everything about rates, returns and exemptions: VAT in Suriname; tracking your sales: VAT register and cashbook.

Discounts, offers and sales

We found no separate Surinamese rules on clearance sales or discount campaigns. The general rules do apply:

• Do not mislead. A statement about the price, how it is calculated, the reason for the offer ("closing-down sale") or the stock may not be misleading (art. 6:194 Civil Code). A "was" price that was never charged, or a promotion that never ends, is risky.
• The sale price too must be in SRD and visible on the product or sign. On a basic good the maximum price still applies, also during a promotion.
• Consumer rights remain. "Reduced, no exchange" is fine for exchanges because the customer changed their mind, but a defective product must still be repaired or replaced during a sale, unless you disclosed the defect in advance. See New Civil Code.
• Discounts on the receipt: show the product sold, the discount and the amount paid including VAT, so the receipt matches your till and your VAT return.
• Credit notes and gift vouchers: make one with Gift voucher and put an expiry date on it.

Checklist for your shop

• A price in SRD on every product, or a visible price list; also in the shop window
• Loose goods with a price per kilo or per piece
• Dollar or euro prices only next to the SRD price, with the Central Bank rate used
• Shelf prices and till prices equal; price changes entered in the till at the same time
• Till system or receipt book that prints all required details in Dutch
• Copy of every receipt kept for ten years, with a backup if digital
• Purchase invoices for basic goods available in the shop at once
• Prices of basic goods checked against the latest maximum price list
• Expiry dates checked weekly; expired products off the shelf
• Meat, fish and chicken labelled; prepackaged goods with a label meeting SSB 003:2013
• VAT correctly shown on the receipt if you are VAT-registered
• KKF registration and licence up to date and kept in the shop (Business licences)
• Scales verified yearly by the Assay and Weights and Measures Service (see Standards and certification)
• Staff know what to do during an inspection

When an inspector comes

1. Ask for identification. ECD inspectors and special police officers (BAVPs) can identify themselves. Note names and time.
2. Cooperate. You must give access to books and records and provide information. Refusing makes things worse.
3. Show purchase invoices for the products being checked. Your permitted price is calculated from them.
4. Fix on the spot what you can: put up prices, correct the till price, remove expired products.
5. If the inspector takes documents, ask for a receipt. Originals must come back within fourteen days.
6. Read the official report or instruction carefully and ask for a copy. If you disagree, write down your comments and discuss them with a lawyer or your trade association (Business associations).
7. If you are closed: ask exactly what must be done to reopen, sort it out and ask for a follow-up inspection.

What if...

• ...my purchase price rises because of the exchange rate? Then your shop price may rise within the margin, provided you can show the new purchase invoice. For basic goods EZOTI updates the list; wait for the new list or keep your evidence at hand.
• ...a customer shows me the app and says I am too expensive? Check that it is the same product, pack size and importer. If it is, adjust your price. Do not argue; the minister asks customers to call the ECD when in doubt rather than confront the shopkeeper.
• ...I have no till system? The decree requires a correct receipt, not necessarily a till. For a small business a sequentially numbered receipt book can be enough. If you run a supermarket, expect the ECD to require a working till system.
• ...I buy and sell in dollars? Always put the SRD price on the product. If you want business customers to pay in dollars, agree that expressly in the quote or contract.
• ...the ECD closes my shop? Usually that is temporary until the problem is fixed. A closure of up to one month ordered by the minister only follows a conviction; you can appeal to the President within one month (art. 12 decree).

Consumers can report price complaints to the ECD on 1940, WhatsApp +597 853 0915 or phone 483949 (as of January 2025), or via the chat in SRD Check. General information, not legal advice.

Sources

• Decree amending the Price Display Decree, S.B. 2024 no. 20, with explanatory note
• Prijsaanduidingsbesluit, S.B. 1998 no. 15
• Decreet Prijszetting en Prijsbewaking, S.B. 1984 no. 66
• EZOTI: supermarkets closed over till systems (21 January 2025)
• EZOTI: information session on the amended decree (20 September 2024)
• EZOTI: more inspections after complaints about shop prices (17 December 2025)
• ECD: targeted supermarket inspections (29 December 2025)
• ECD: shop inspections, price display and expired products (29 December 2025)
• EZOTI and Consumentenkring on shop inspections (29 December 2025)
• EZOTI: launch of SRD Check (16 March 2026)
• EZOTI: SRD Check free to use (19 March 2026)
• EZOTI: ECD to get more resources (9 October 2026)
• Crisis management team: fuel price cap (26 March 2026)
• Government: fuel prices unchanged (4 August 2026)
• Finance and Planning: no decision yet on the fuel cap (21 August 2026)

Checked on 26 October 2026. Maximum prices, margins and the fuel cap change often; check the current status with EZOTI.