FCCC Chief Executive Joel Abraham. [File Photo]

There has been a notable increase in compliance from businesses says the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Consumer Protection Agency attributes this to increased advocacy and empowered Fijians exercising their rights and responsibilities.

FCCC Chief Executive Joel Abraham says more than 8,000 inspections have been conducted with minimal breaches, especially during these difficult times.

“Compliance has been high and we have also seen a paradigm shift where businesses have also moved away from a system of detection and punishment’s system to a system of wilful compliance.”

Abraham says businesses have also been coming forward and admitting their breaches.

“We have had instances where businesses have actually written to us saying by the way we have noticed we have breached this section because such an incident happened and it happened in error. So FCCC had than gone in and investigated the whole thing and ensured that proper refunds are being made.”

The CEO adds that out of 8,433 inspections conducted, they have only found 345 instances of non-compliance.

He says upon further investigation they charged fifty-three traders for breaching the FCCC Act.