Praneeta Prakash 
[File Phjoto/Senikavika Jiuta]
The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission is carrying out post-budget market monitoring and enforcement activities to ensure the benefits are passed down to everyday Fijians, as intended.
FCCC Chief Executive Senikavika Jiuta says that with this Government’s budget initiatives coming into effect from the 1st of next month, the responsibility now rests with businesses to implement these changes fairly once they are in effect.
She says their Price Monitoring and Enforcement Taskforce is here to ensure traders are compliant as they transition to the new tax and duty rates.
The CEO says traders must adjust their prices accurately and ensure that these benefits flow directly to people as per the intention of the budget.
She says any attempt to withhold these benefits, or to exploit consumers during this time of adjustment through unethical practices such as overpricing, will not be tolerated.
The FCCC will also be working with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Services to conduct targeted inspections, price checks, and ongoing compliance verification exercises across all divisions.
This includes monitoring essential items that remain zero-rated for VAT, as well as products that should reflect reduced tax and duty rates.
This work follows FCCC’s extensive pre-budget surveillance, during which over 120 market surveys were conducted nationwide to establish pricing baselines.
These benchmarks will now be used to compare post-budget pricing behavior and to investigate any anomalies.
The FCCC urges all traders to reflect the reduced tax and duty rates in the prices of their goods and services, where applicable.
The FCCC officers will be on the ground conducting vigorous checks and monitoring the market to ensure compliance.
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