Finance, Trade and Economic Planning Minister Peter Larose visits Fair Trading Commission ‘A model of efficiency and professionalism’ |09 December 2017

 Minister Larose interacting with some of the staff during his tour of the various departments of the FTC

The Fair Trading Commission is “a model of efficiency and professionalism” and Minister Peter Larose is considering using it as a model for other public institutions to emulate.

Finance, Trade and Economic Planning Minister Peter Larose said this after conducting a visit to the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) Wednesday afternoon.

This forms part of a series of visits being undertaken by Minister Larose to institutions under his portfolio.

Met by the chief executive of FTC Francis Lebon and deputy chief Natalie Edmond, the minister received a thorough tour of the commission’s various departments.

FTC’s main function is to uphold the Fair Competition Act 2009 and the Consumer Act 2009, with the aim of safeguarding the interest of consumer groups among other tasks.

He firstly called upon the consumer services and consumer goods departments, where the respective heads of department brought forth their grievances. 

A very demanding clientèle, lack of resources and the lack of expertise to investigate the burden of proof were only some of the constraints voiced out in these two departments.

While in the competition department ‒ where anti-competitive practices such as collusion, bid rigging and monopoly are investigated ‒ the minister was brought up to date on its functions, successful cases as well as pending investigations.

The visit continued to the legal department, market surveillance department, human resource and administrative department, and the secretariat.

Mr Lebon expressed that FTC’s main challenge is the lack of synchronisation between itself and other relevant agencies such as the Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA) and Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC). It is a deficiency which Mr Lebon hopes to remedy at the earliest.

Another challenge, he continued, is their enormous backlog of cases caused by the fact that the FTC board meets only once a week.

“The establishment of a tribunal will clear the backlog considerably and make sure repayments to the plaintiffs are done promptly,” Mr Lebon proposed to the minister.

 The CEO insisted more severe actions should be taken against recurring offenders ‒ who form the majority of complaints received ‒ in order to deter these offenders.

On his side, Minister Larose congratulated Mr Lebon for setting up a young and dynamic group, most of whom are new recruits and graduates, who will hopefully help “drive innovation and growth”.

In this regard, Mr Lebon stated that the hardest recruits to retain are law graduates who often seek greener pastures after completing their pupilage and bar exam.

 “It is hard to retain these law graduates under the DPA’s (Department for Public Administration) common cadre because we are faced with an extremely competitive legal market that poaches our graduates with better salary offers.”

Nevertheless, Minister Larose concluded that he was impressed by the management style as well as the hard work and dedication displayed by the employees.

So much so, that the minister stated that he is considering using the organisation as a model of efficiency and professionalism for other public institutions to emulate.

“It is for this reason that I have the highest level of confidence in Mr Lebon and his team, and I hope the FPAC members in the National Assembly and President Danny Faure also visits this exemplary institution,” the minister asserted.