The Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC) has enjoyed some measure of success in its efforts to advocate for consumers’ rights and in encouraging suppliers to comply with the Consumer Affairs and Competition and Fair Trade laws.
According to a CCAC release, during 2019 the Commission received 586 consumer complaints, which related to amounts totalling $165,847,551. The figures, it says, reflects a 103% increase in the number of complaints and 81% increase in the value of complaints when compared with the previous year 2018.
Both the Consumer Affairs and the Competition Policy Units recorded a successful 2019.
Complaints against Fly Jamaica accounted for 206 of the 586 complaints, which was about 35% for the year. Fly Jamaica has since filed for bankruptcy and the cases have been referred to their trustee to be added to their list of creditors. Complaints against Fly Jamaica therefore accounts for 85% of the ongoing 242 complaints.
Excluding figures from Fly Jamaica cases, the Consumer Affairs Unit successfully resolved 341 or 90% of the remaining 380 complaints valued at $104,265,518. Three cases or 1% have been referred to the Commission’s Board for hearing.
The auto and airline industries dominated the list of complaints, whereas the auto industry accounted for the highest value of complaints, $75,794,605.
CCAC inspected several businesses in Regions 2, 3, 4, 7 and 10 for their compliance with the Consumer Affairs Act. Of those inspected, 85% were non-compliant. This, the Com-mission said, was mainly attributed to many businesses claiming that they were unaware of the duties of the supplier under the Consumer Affairs Act. These businesses will be re-inspected in early 2020 to ensure they correct the contraventions.
The Commission also presided over a price fixing case against the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) fining the SAG individual membership $3,843,000 each for breaches under the Com-petition and Fair Trading Act.
The Competition Policy Unit also conducted a study into the operations of the cost of the JFK, New York to Georgetown airline route. The report was completed and its findings were published late 2019, the release added.
