THE Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC) successfully recovered some $107 million for aggrieved consumers in 2022 by enforcing the Consumer Affairs Act (CAA) of 2011, a release from the Commission noted.

According to the release, the Commission, in 2022, received 410 complaints which amounted to a total value of $261.2 million. Approximately 87 per cent of those complaints were resolved; that resulted in the $107 million sum being recovered on behalf of consumers. The remaining 13 per cent of claims are ongoing cases.

As was the case in previous years, the Commission noted that electronics, electronics appliance and appliance services, and the automotive industry continued to dominate the categories of complaints.

In fact, it was noted that the automotive industry accounted for the highest value of complaints to the value of $165.9 million. Meanwhile, Region Four generated the highest number of complaints – 293 complaints, followed by Region Three with 64 complaints, Region 10 with 27 complaints, and Region Six with 14.

Additionally, 1,005 inspections were conducted in eight of the 10 administrative regions for compliance with the Consumer Affairs Act. From those inspections, it was found that 397 businesses inspected were in conformance. At the same time, the other 608 were made aware of their duties under the CAA and were given the opportunity to bring their operations into conformance.

Last year, the Commission also noted that it translated the excerpt of the Consumer Affairs Act 2011 to Mandarin and that document was handed over to the Chinese Association last December. This was done because it was found that many Chinses businesses were not compliant with the Act.

Additionally, an inaugural compliance awards ceremony was launched in November 2022. Five businesses were awarded, and long-standing consumer Advocate Pat Dial was awarded Consumer Advocate of the year. For the first time, the Commission introduced compliance certificates that were issued to compliant businesses.

The Commission assured consumers that it will continue to host outreaches in all 10 regions to increase awareness of the Consumer Affairs Act and its role in Guyana.