The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission has found some traders outside of the Greater Suva Area increasing the price of basic, critical and essential items in an attempt to take advantage of the Suva lockdown which was lifted yesterday.
FCCC CEO, Joel Abraham says make no mistake, FCCC is still on the ground conducting inspections and traders will not get away with breaking the law.
They conducted 8 inspections from 8th to 10th April 2020 around Sawani, Lomaivuna, Vunidawa and Serea in the Naitasiri Province, resulting in 6 traders being warned with prosecution while 2 were issued with infringement notices.
Abraham says these unscrupulous traders believed that due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown, FCCC wouldn’t be able to do inspections so they hiked up prices on items that Fijian consumers need, from basic food items to even fuel products.
Abraham says in some instances, when consumers complained to the traders about the price of the goods, their response was that FCCC Officers were unable to come to check their shop since the Central and Eastern Division was on a major lockdown and traders can do anything they want.
According to earlier inspections by FCCC, these traders had been compliant.
Abraham says it is extremely disappointing to say the least, that during a time when we should be looking out for each other, there are those who want to use this as an opportunity to take advantage of Fijians. He says this conduct will not be tolerated and the current circumstances will not stop them from conducting their duty of protecting Fijian consumers.
He also highlighted that some traders have also increased prices and failed to issue receipts to consumers, or if they issued receipts, the items were not clearly mentioned on the receipts as per the requirements under the FCCC Act 2010.
