94% of traders in Kadavu are not complying with FCCC Act

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission noted that 94 percent of traders in Kadavu are not complying with the FCCC Act 2010 and are currently being investigated.

FCCC led by the Head of Monitoring Division, Isimeli Vulagi and Chief Executive Officer, Joel Abraham visited Kadavu as part of its rural and maritime enforcement action plan.

Chief Executive Officer, Joel Abraham says despite their efforts to encourage compliance coupled with previous visits and trader engagement, it is a sad state of affairs to see negligence of consumer protection provisions.

Abraham says 4 traders out of the 97 businesses inspected were found to have followed the law.

He says they also saw traders who have been operating for several years and are fully aware of the law yet were still blatantly engaging in non-compliance.

Abraham says their team will go over their previous records to get a full picture of the severity of the breaches before forming an opinion and moving forward with prosecution.

He says FCCC protects the consumer rights of every single Fijian, regardless of their background or geographical location.

Abraham says they are also training village headmen to conduct market surveillance and inspections and empowering them to partially conduct FCCC duties with regards to monitoring of village business and stores in their jurisdiction on matters like price increases or hoarding.