a tripartite report - Unctad

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In discussions held with the Registrar of the FCT,
he emphasized that the FCT did not have original
jurisdiction, only appellate functions and can make
its own Rules of Procedure, which it has under Gazette
No. 189 of 22 June 2006 . This was considered
to be the norm for most tribunals. The FCT
has its own staff /secretariat. Unlike the FCC staff,
the FCT staff are civil servants. The FCT salaries are
lower than the FCC ones.
In terms of cases, the FCT had received a total of
63 cases since it began operations in 2007. Thirtythree
of these cases were miscellaneous applications,
while 28 were appeals.
A concern was raised by the legal respondents to
Section 84 of the FCA, which substantively states
that there shall be no appeals to decisions made
by the Tribunal. While its judgments shall be executed
as judgments of the High Court, it follows
that the rules of the High Court shall be applied
and technically, it seems that the appeal may only
relate to the detail of implementing the decision of
the FCT and not the substance of the decision itself.
The safety valve is that a person aggrieved by
a decision of the FCT may use administrative law
to have the FCT review its own decision.
4.5 National Consumer Advocacy
Council
Section 92 of the Act creates a National Consumer
Advocacy Council (NCAC), which has no enforcement
powers but merely advocacy functions. It is
noteworthy that the NCAC does not only advocate
for consumers affected under the Fair Competition
Act, but all consumers directly or indirectly affected
bers
and not more than ten members appointed
by the Minister. The Minister appoints the Chairman
and the Members elect the Deputy Chairman from
amongst themselves. Before making the appointments
of members pursuant to subsection (2), the
Minister shall, by notice published in the Gazette, and
in any newspaper or newspapers circulating widely
in the country, invite nominations for appointments.
After having received nominations, the Minister then
publishes the appointments and call for comments,
objections or representations from the public.
In appointing persons to the Council, the Minister
shall have regard to the desirability of the Council
75
as a group having knowledge and understanding
of the interests of consumers, including the interest
of –
(a) low income, rural and disadvantaged persons;
(b) industrial and business users;
(c) Government and community organizations.
Pursuant to Section 93 of FCA, in carrying out its
functions conferred under this Act, the Council
shall –
(a) represent the interests of consumers by
making submissions to, providing views
and information to and consulting with the
Commission, regulatory authorities and
Government ministries;
(b) receive and disseminate information and
views on matters of interest to consumers;
(c) establish regional and sector consumer
committees and consult with them;
(d) consult with industry, Government and other
consumer groups on matters of interest to
consumers.
Under section 95 of the FCA, the NCAC shall be
funded by Parliament after justifying its budgetary
needs. NCAC may also access grants, donations,
bequests or other contributions. While the FCC
and the FCT are expected to be partly funded by
the sector regulators, the law has excluded NCAC
from receiving similar grants from regulators.
Under section 95(4) of the Act, the NCAC is expected
to prepare an Annual Report in relation to
each year ending 30th June and submit it to the
Minister before 30th November in that year. The
NCAC is yet to be functional and there was there-
It is not yet clear what role the NCAC will play, noting
that it is actually created by statute and recognized
as a quasi-statutory body but with no legal
powers of any sought against the FCC or any
research institution but merely a conduit through
which consumers channel their grievances and
plays a consultative and information dissemination
role. While the legislative intention may have been
to create an independent organ to deal with advo-
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