The
Legal Enforcement Department of The Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection
Commission (GCCPC), Tuesday briefed the media on the consumer protection
mechanisms and enforcement procedures.
The
briefing targets to create awareness among the general consumers on the
mechanisms created by law to redress the consumer right abuses. The legal and
enforcement department was created in October 2019 with a mandate to create
consumer rights and protection awareness through advocacy.
Ma
Nyima Bojang, director of the Legal Enforcement Dept., said creating consumer
awareness through advocacy would help in redressing the consumer rights abuses.
“Consumers
should not be fooled by the hoax that when a good is bought after 24 hours or
used cannot be returned. This is not true and it is not in line with the
provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2014,” she said.
She
urged that consumers should always put their complaints to the commission
ranging from false or abusive advertisement, defective goods and unfair trade
practices. She said that all complaints that passed through the commission are
vetted and investigated to see if the rights of the consumers are violated.
“Where
the commission conducts investigation on consumer claim (s) and found that
there were gross consumer right violations which may have had adverse effect on
the consumer, the commission will produce a written report of the issues and
transfer the claim to the attorney general’s chambers for prosecution.”
Amadou
Ceesay, executive secretary of GCCPC, said the strategic objective of the
commission is to protect and promote consumer welfare and to ensure the
availability and affordability of essential commodities in the country.
He
said expanding and strengthening awareness of competition and consumer
protection in the market which is in line with section 15 (j) of the 2007
Competition Act, is a mandate of the GCCPC.
“We
want to advocate and raise the awareness of the public on the work of the
commission and to curb anti-competitive practices to promote competition in all
sectors of the economy.”
The
Consumer Protection Act was established April 2014 to protect consumers from
unfair and misleading market conducts and to provide for the establishment of
consumer tribunal. The act provides protection to consumers through variety of
measures by ensuring compliance with consumer regulations and legislations amongst
others.
