National Consumer Commission Celebrates 5 years

22nd January 2016

  

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The National Consumer Commission (NCC), which is the chief regulator of consumer-business interaction in South Africa, celebrated its fifth year of operation in 2015, said NCC principal Thezi Mabuza at a food labelling seminar, hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Pretoria, Gauteng, in November.

The NCC was created by government under the auspices of the the dti to ensure the economic welfare of consumers, as they play a vital role in the growth of the economy and contribute to the national fiscus and the development of the country.

'A major milestone that has been reached since the launch of the NCC is the trend analysis [it is conducting] in terms of complaints that have been filed with us. We are now able to analyse these complaints by demographics, products and provinces,' she said.
Mabuza added that, according to trend analysis, the products receiving the most complaints are motor vehicles and fast-moving consumer goods. Subsequently, the NCC recently established the motor industry code and the consumer goods and services code.

The NCC also gained traction in the recall processes ñ and urged major manufacturers in the motor industry to disclose problems.
Mabuza said the NCC would assist the manufacturers with the recall process, if necessary, free of charge.

Further, the commission had also made strides in the food recalling process: 'For example, when dairy brand Parmalat recalled apple juice in February that contained cleaning chemicals, we worked closely with them during the process. We also worked closely with wine manufacturer and distributor Distell when small glass particles were found in some of their wine bottles in May,' she noted.

However, Mabuza said the NCC still found the enforcement of policy issues and regulations, where certain conduct needed to be declared prohibited, a challenge.

'When we have to go to a tribunal or a court, the NCC is constrained because businesses find a way of protecting their turf. They bring in many legal advisers, which, as government, we cannot always afford. It becomes unequal, which is a major challenge for the NCC.'

She added that when a problem had been exposed in the media, the NCC found that the business in question tried to make it a non-issue, thereby downplaying the effect such a matter could have on the consumer.
 

'We also face challenges regarding coordination. It becomes costly for the NCC, as it is a national commission that has only one office with a small number of staff. It is difficult to carry out enforcement throughout the entire country because we have limited resources, owing to our geographic placement,' Mabuza explained.

Exported Goods vs Local Distribution
Mabuza mentioned that labelling of exported products was better and more detailed than local distribution, noting that distributors often complied more strictly with international laws than with local food labelling laws.

'When business has a national footprint, they use their Grade A goods for export. They get more in terms of their profit margins when they export compared with goods sold locally, and they know that the NCC is not able to go everywhere for compliance checks.'

She pointed out that the law stipulated that noncompliance in terms of food labelling resulted in the NCC's sending a noncompliance notice to companies; should noncompliance remain an issue thereafter, companies would be fined 10% of their yearly turnover.

'The NCC is starting to concentrate more on product sampling. After sampling, we issue investigation certificates,' Mabuza said.

Legislation
The legislation on food labelling is fragmented and, therefore, problematic, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler said at the event.

She pointed out that the Consumer Protection Act covered some aspects of food labelling, along with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health (DoH).

'Amendments to these laws are not widely published and I personally find it a difficult area to work in. To make any piece of legislation work, consumers need to know how they are protected and products should be labelled so that they can know if the labelling is wrong and take a stand.

'I don't know what the solution is, but I would like someone in government to make a concerted effort to harness all these laws to get a simple and easy-to-understand document, with the commitment to constantly amend it when amendments come through,' she noted.

DoH Chief Director Malose Matlala said that, in terms of labelling, the DoH had a body ñ The Regulations Related to Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs ñ from which regulations needed to be developed to ensure that there was compliance in terms of food safety and quality.

He noted that, simultaneously, 'the regulations need to ensure that consumers are protected. The regulations should also facilitate trade'.

With new developments in terms of science, the DoH must work on amending and updating the provisions of those regulations, with R529 ñ the draft regulations on food labelling ñ having been published he added.

Matlala said that the DoH covered aspects that had not been included in previous regulations, but which had to be enforced.
National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) representative Lynette Thumran said the organisation's mandate pertained to canned fish and meat products, and that it conducted inspections within this domain.

'Part of our inspections entail labelling evaluations ñ for these we normally use our own compulsory specifications. We also use the regulations of the DoH in terms of metrology regulations on labelling,' she said.

She added that the NRCS tried to merge all different labelling laws to ensure that consumers' health and safety were protected and fair trade among role players.

'There can be as many laws as you like, but if [they are not properly enforced] business realises that there are no consequences for [using] incorrect labels,' stressed University of KwaZulu-Natal consumer law lecturer Tanya Woker.

She noted, however, that certain food labelling issues had been investigated for over a year and that some of the challenges regarding labelling were relatively simple to deal with.

'Food is being sold past its sell-by date and we often don't have the correct information on the label regarding certain products.

These are relatively simple issues for the NCC to tackle. Rather than do massive investigations, which end up getting bogged down in procedural issues, it should take a simple issue on behalf of a consumer who has been harmed, investigate that and take it through the procedure,' Woker explained.

She added that once a business is convicted and a penalty is imposed, it sent a message to business that the NCC was taking things seriously and that there were consequences for noncompliance.

International Food Labelling Requirements
According to a document published by the the dti's market access division, titled Food Labelling Requirements ñ Country of Origin -Traceability and Labelling for the Domestic and Export Market, published in November, 473 specific concerns were raised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from 1995 to 2015.

Sixty-seven of these concerns were about food labelling requirements, excluding alcoholic beverages. There have been 19 concerns raised against the European Union (EU) about food labelling requirements, five against China, four against the US, three against India, Japan and South Africa, and two against Canada.

The concerns raised about South Africa include draft regulations on iced desserts and ice creams by the EU, which wanted further information and clarification in 2002, as the union claimed there had not been enough transparency in the regulatory environment.

In 2008, the US raised concerns about the draft labelling and advertising of foodstuff regulations and wanted further information and clarification on the proposed regulations while also questioning the rationale and legitimacy of the measures.

The EU and New Zealand raised concerns about draft labelling and advertising of pre-packaged foodstuff regulations in 2014 and questioned the rationale of the measures and the implementation date.

The major issues from these countries include discrimination, where imported and domestically produced food-labelling requirements were different; the failure to base the labelling requirements on appropriate international standards and lack of transparency, owing to the non-notification of a draft labelling requirement.

The document further states that when regulators draft food labelling requirements, it is important to take note of the WTO rules. For the export market it is also important to establish what the labelling requirements are of the importing country.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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