Legislation to outlaw monopolies in January

Irangika Range

COLOMBO: The Government will present the new Consumer Affairs Authority Act before Parliament as a matter of urgency to protect consumers from unscrupulous traders and trade practices.

The Bill will be presented before the House at the first sessions of Parliament in January. The Bill will also incorporate provisions to deal with unfair trade practices and the elimination of monopolies.

Trade, Marketing Development, Co-operative, Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunawardana told the Daily News that the final draft is ready to be presented to the Cabinet. All bottlenecks in the implementation process will be ironed out and modifications introduced where necessary with the help of the Attorney General’s Department.

The Minister said proposed Act would help investment promotion while putting an end to monopolies. “We will remove the Section 77 from Consumer Affairs Authority Act No.9 of 2003 which was smuggled in by former Trade Minister Ravi Karunanayake from the new Bill,”he said.

Many companies try to maintain the monopoly taking cover under this Section. “We have not introduced any Section that would work against the interest of the consumers,”the Minister said.

“Our whole intention is to encourage good trade practices. We have been receiving a number of complaints about unfair trading where consumers have been fleeced.

The new Act will also incorporate provisions for imposing stringent penalties against errant traders. Minister Gunawerdena said a new professionally qualified Director Board will be appointed to the Consumer Affairs Authority sans any political considerations.