Nine more traders charged by FCCC

9 more traders have been charged by the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission 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 9 traders, 4 were based in the Western Division, 3 in the Central Eastern Division and 2 in the Northern division.

FCCC Chief Executive Officer Joel Abraham says unfortunately, during the course of their daily inspections, they found some unscrupulous traders have been quite blatant in the way they operate and instead of showing solidarity and understanding during these hard times, they have decided to use it to take advantage of Fijians.

He says there was one business they visited that was overcharging on a particular price controlled item.

Abraham says with their zero-tolerance approach in place, they did not waste any time and took legal action against the trader as soon as possible.

3,503 inspections have been done so far 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.

Abraham adds FCCC will not hesitate to take decisive action against those seeking to take advantage of Fijian consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak and they will continue to monitor the market for breaches of Fijian consumer rights.