Appalling find

59 per cent of businesses non-compliant

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AN appalling number of cases of non-compliance have been found, particularly in the area of food and drinks over the past three months.

Continuous market surveillance by the Consumer Council of Fiji (CCoF) has reportedly found that of the 648 traders/service providers inspected, 59 per cent were not compliant to one or more of the consumer protection laws in place.

While revealing these startling figures, CCoF chief executive officer Seema Shandil said that put simply, almost 6 out of every 10 businesses inspected were non-compliant to consumer protection laws and this indicates a high level of ‘profit-first, consumers last’ attitude of businesses.

“One of the major concerns noted is the fact that the highest number of non-compliance is in the area of food and drinks.

“Many traders continued to defy food safety regulations and were found retailing expired food items, tempering with expiry dates, selling prohibited food items, selling priced control items above regulated price and food establishments preparing food in unhygienic conditions.

“Addressing complaints relating to food and drinks is on the Council’s top priority given that these products end up on consumers’ dining tables,” stated Ms Shandil.

“There is an urgent need to dish out appropriate penalties; especially to repeat offenders in order to serve as deterrence and to send a strong message to would be offenders.”

Given the high number of issues discovered by the council pertaining to food and drinks and the likelihood of an increase as we head in to the festive season, last month a surveillance campaign dubbed ‘Trader Watch’ was launched by the council; a vigorous and intensive market surveillance program targeting businesses which attract high consumer demand during this season.

The council is reassuring consumers that they will work closely with relevant enforcement agencies to iron out these issues and continuously push for stringent enforcement actions to ensure an increase in the level of compliance by traders and service providers.

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