The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission as part of their Tropical Cyclone Yasa response action plan has inspected 130 traders in Labasa, Seaqaqa and Rabi.
FCCC Chief Executive Officer Joel Abraham says as part of their stakeholder engagement and consumer protection strategy, they continued trader inspections over Christmas and Boxing day, targeting the rural areas of Vanua Levu.
Abraham says he is glad their inspections are going well and to see the majority of traders cooperating.
Abraham says they also made it a priority to ensure that traders were not engaging in price gouging, which can be a real problem in the aftermath of natural disasters.
He says while preliminary community visit sessions allege price gouging, the investigations to ascertain price gouging requires intensive investigation looking at pricing practices over a period of time.
Abraham says the investigation teams have served notices for trader records.
He says that in addition to inspections, as part of FCCC’s efforts to help Fijians affected by TC Yasa, stakeholder consultations were also held.
Abraham says by working with local stakeholders, they hope to ensure that the supply chain disruptions does not happen as it can really hurt Fijians and people can be left stranded without what they need at a time when they need it the most.
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