Act amendments set to help protect Fijians

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) has welcomed the amendment to the FCCC Act 2010. The amendment includes a new section that is expected to empower the commission with a specific legal provision to ensure that prices are reduced to reflect duty and tax reductions.

The changes empower the commission to undertake a thorough review of the market and ensure that the benefits of price reductions in food and white goods, as well as tax reductions, are enjoyed by all Fijians; businesses and consumers alike.

“The 2020-2021 Fijian National Budget sustainably safeguards the welfare of Fijian consumers. The Budget is people-centric and with reduced duties and taxes, Fijian consumers will have a fuller shopping cart for a lesser price,” said the commission’s chief executive officer Joel Abraham.

“We have been taking collaborative approaches with different businesses and industries on how their inventory levels are, and now we are going to pass the duty and tax reduction on to them.”

Commission teams will be out in the field undertaking a survey targeted on data collection, which is phase one of the entire duty price and tax reduction list, followed by a pre and a post comparison of the market survey.