Companies fined for unfair trading
The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has imposed fines on some companies for engaging in practices that violate the Competition and Fair Trading Act (CFTA).
The decisions were made during the Commission’s 48th Meeting held in Lilongwe last month where the CFTC Board considered and adjudicated over cases relating to unfair trading practices, anti-competitive business conduct, mergers and acquisitions.
In one of its determinations, the commission imposed a fine of K5 million on Farmers World Limited for supplying products which did not comply with prescribed labelling standards.
A statement from CFTC signed by its Executive Director Wezi Malonda indicated that this followed investigations which the Commission conducted which established that, in October 2016, Farmers World Limited were supplying 20 kilogrammes of Sea Fresh packs whose expiry dates were labelled on separate tags clipped or stapled onto the packs.
“In its findings, the Commission determined that expiry date labelling on removable stickers or clips makes the labels prone to abuse by unscrupulous traders who may, upon expiry of products, simply remove the expiry dates and replace with new ones in order to deceive unsuspecting consumers.
“This conduct was incons is tent with the applicable consumer protection standards as provided under the Malawi Standards MS 19, CFTA and the Consumer Protection Act,” CFTC said.
The commission also ordered Sweet Smelling Food Trading Limited to pay a fine of K5 million for failing to timely recall a harmful product from the market.
CFTC said its findings established that Sweet Smelling Food Trading Limited were supplying Joy Crisps which were not fit for human consumption.
“However, despite being advised to conduct a voluntary recall process and issue a public notice, the company did not comply fully. Failure to comply with the order shall result in criminal prosecution in accordance with Section 50 and 51 of the CFTA,” the statement said.
The Commission has further ordered Motor Care Limited to pay a fine of K2.5 million for engaging in misleading advertising on the price of motor vehicle tyres and batteries.
CFTC said after thorough investigations, it established that the prices charged by Motor Care Limited at the counter were different and far higher than the discounted prices published in newspaper adverts.
The Commission has also ordered National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi to refund the sum of K902,000 with interest at prevailing commercial rates to Mbwatalika Seed Multiplication Club for supplying defective groundnut seed.
In total, the Commission considered and adjudicated over 25 cases of which 19 were on unfair trading practices while the rest were on anti-competitive trade practices.
CFTC is an autonomous agency of the government established with a mandate to regulate, monitor, control and prevent behaviours which would adversely affect competition and fair trading in Malawi.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
