MANY businesses in Guyana continue to disregard their obligations to comply with the Consumer Affairs Act and the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission has taken a decision to publish the names of the defaulting entities on its website.

In its report for the first half of 2019, the commission said that it carried out inspections at 82 businesses during the first half of the year and of that figure, more than 80% of the businesses were non-compliant with the act. It said that the inspections were carried out in Essequibo, Georgetown, Vreed-en-Hoop, Bartica and at Kwakwani.

“During the first business inspection, if any infringements are found, the business is given a date to correct this. A random second inspection is conducted on the same business to determine if corrective measures were put in place,” the commission said.

It was noted that many businesses continue to disregard their obligations to the CAA, and remained non-complaint on the second inspection. “The Commission has taken a decision to publish the names of those non-compliant businesses on the website,” the body said.
In other details provided in the mid-year report, the commission said that it has received a significant number of complaints from the public during the first half of 2019, and the figures have eclipsed last year’s record when a comparison was made. It was pointed out that a significant increase in complaints can be attributed to increased awareness of the Commission.

It was stated that that a large amount of complaints from persons affected by the Fly Jamaica incident that took place in November, 2018. That airline has since folded after one of its Boeing aircraft skidded off of the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, crippling the company’s finances and as a result a number of passengers have been making attempts to retrieve the cost for tickets purchased for subsequent flights.

The commission said that during the first half of this year, its Consumer Affairs Unit (CAU) received a ‘staggering’ three hundred and eighty-eight (388) complaints valuing an astounding $128,897,477.

The sum eclipsed the value of complaints received for the same period in 2018, the commission said. According to the report, most of the complaints which the commission received were from the airline and auto industries which, the body said, “saturated the list of complaints as it pertains to the number of complaints and value of complaints respectively for this period.”

It was noted that while it is a norm to see a high influx of complaints from the Electronics and Auto industries, the airline industry received an “unusually large amount of complaints due to Fly Jamaica’s inability to refund consumers affected to date.”

The commission said that it faces several challenges with the main issue being that the body is unable to continue the execution of business inspections to measure business compliance because of its staff capacity to carry out its functions and limited availability of finances. It was noted too that unexpected financial constraints to the Commission has affected the conduct of business inspections countrywide.