Most traders and service provid­ers get away with their unscrupulous busi­ness conduct because there is not enough protection for consumers.

This was highlighted by the Consumer Council of Fiji senior manager corpo­rate, Bindula Prasad after the opening of a workshop for traders and consumers in the Western Division at the Sea Breeze Hotel in Lautoka yesterday.

Ms Prasad said it was un­fortunate that some legisla­tions in Fiji were quite old.

“Unfortunately, some leg­islations in Fiji are quite archaic, because these were done when most of us were not born even,” she said.

“Some provide weak pro­tection to the consumers when things go wrong and some do not have the avail­ability of redresses.

“Meaning if a consumer has been cheated and the trader is aware that the wrong has been done to the consumer, there is no re­dress available.

“This is the very reason why most traders and ser­vice providers are able get away with their unscrupu­lous business conduct.

“Because there is not enough protection given to the vulnerable consumers.”

She said, however, there were a few consumer pro­tection legislations that were in place that provided protection to the consum­ers.

“We do have some con­sumer protection legisla­tion in place that provides certain protection to con­sumers.

“The success of these laws will depend upon the vigi­lance of consumers about their rights and their re­sponsibilities,” she added.

Edited by Percy Kean

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