Nine more traders charged by FCCC

Nine more traders were charged by the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) for various breaches of the FCCC Act 2010. These traders were found to be selling price-controlled items at an excessive price, false and misleading representation of items and failing to display or mark prices.

Out of these nine traders, four were based in the western division, three in the central eastern division and two in the northern division.

“Unfortunately, during the course of our daily inspections, we have found some unscrupulous traders have been quite blatant in the way they operate.

“Instead of showing solidarity and understanding during these hard times, have decided to use it to take advantage of Fijians,” said FCCC chief executive officer Joel Abraham.

“There was one business we visited that was overcharging on a particular price- controlled item. “With our zero-tolerance approach in place, we didn’t waste any time and took legal action against the trader as soon as possible.”

Inspections conducted

So far, FCCC has conducted 3503 inspections during the COVID-19 crisis, of which enforcement action has been instituted against 202 traders, 20 traders had been charged previously and 16 more traders have matters yet to be filed in court.

“FCCC will not hesitate to take decisive action against those seeking to take advantage of Fijian consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue to monitor the market for breaches of Fijian consumer rights, “said Mr Abraham.