The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) established under the Fijian Competition Consumer Commission Act, Act No. 49 of 2010 having its registered office at 42 Gorrie Street, Suva.

The FCCC has developed a 5 year strategic Plan from 2017 to 2022 and FCCC will meet the following four (4) key strategic objectives:

• Markets for goods and services in Fiji are competitive.
• Consumers in Fiji are offered goods and services that are safe and are provided with adequate   and accurate information about them.
• Regulation, including price control, is applied where economically justified and in a manner that is as economically efficient as practicable.
• The FCCC is respected by Government, businesses and the public as an independent and expert body.

Strategic Goal 1 – Markets for goods and services in Fiji are competitive.

Competition creates incentives for businesses to innovate, operate efficiently and provide products and services at the price and quantity demanded by consumers.

The Commission’s objectives for competitive markets are:

• Businesses understand the competition rules and willingly abide by them
• Competition between businesses is effective and fair
• Changes to market structure do not increase market power unless any likely detriment is outweighed by the overall benefit to the public.
• Barriers to entry and exit are minimised.
• Terms of purchase are fair and businesses do not use market power to tilt the terms of trade in their favour to the detriment of their customers.

Strategic Goal 2 – Consumers in Fiji are offered goods and services that are safe and are provided with adequate and accurate information about them.

A fundamental part of competitive markets is that consumers can be confident that they understand what they are purchasing and what price they will pay. 

Equally, businesses and traders who act with integrity must be confident that they will not be undermined by unethical traders who do not provide accurate information to consumers. 

It is important that consumers are able to make informed choices.

The Commission wishes to increase its activities to protect consumers. 

To an extent it does this by controlling the prices of consumer goods and rents. 

However, this function needs to be balanced by allowing competition to have an impact on markets where this is possible. 

Competition cannot be relied on to deliver outcomes for consumers unless the rivalry is effective, fair and does not result in consumer being misled.

The Commission’s objectives for consumer protection are to ensure that:

• Businesses understand the consumer protection rules and willingly abide by them
• Information provided to consumers by traders is accurate, complete and true
• Consumers understand the full terms of their purchases
• Terms of purchase are fair and businesses do not use bargaining power to tilt the terms of trade in their favour to the detriment of consumers.

Strategic Goal 3 – Regulation, including price control, is applied where economically justified and in a manner that is as economically efficient as practicable.

The Fijian economy is characterised by differing opportunities for consumers, and businesses depending on whether they are based in rural areas or urban areas. 

These differences are exacerbated after adverse events such as cyclones or other natural disasters. 

For this reason, the FCCC is responsible for setting the prices of a range of consumer products.

In addition, there are natural monopolies which mean that effective competition is unable to be relied up on deliver efficient prices for consumers.  In such cases these industries are regulated.

The Commission’s objective for the pricing of consumer goods, rents and regulated industries are that:

• Where effective competition is unable to be sustained, the price of consumer good reflects the costs of the goods including distribution and a fair margin
• Regulatory decisions set prices and quality standards that reflect efficient costs, remove monopoly prices and provide an incentive to invest.
• Regulated businesses face regulatory certainty and smooth price paths; and
• Accommodation rents are fair for the tenant and the landlord

Strategic Goal 4 – The Commission is respected as an independent and expert body by the public, the Government and businesses

Delivering our strategic objectives requires that the FCCC develop its capability and makes changes to its own internal processes.

Feedback:  selita.bolanavanua@fijisun.com.fj