The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission has taken the Road Traffic Authority to Court over non-compliance of ICCC’s Statutory Notice.
In a statement, ICCC Commissioner Paulus Ain explained his office wrote to the RTA to explain how the fees were calculated, but the deadline for the complete response lapsed, and ICCC filed court proceedings on 7th March for an alleged breach of Section 128 of the ICCC Act.
Ain said the ICCC became concerned when RTA released a public notice in the press on 31st May, 2018, announcing new road traffic fees and charges to come into effect on 1st June, 2018.
Commissioner Ain said the ICCC was concerned about the financial impact the new fees and charges would have on commuters and vehicle owners; and the RTA’s lack of meaningful consultation with relevant stakeholders, including the ICCC, before implementing these fees.
“The ICCC can issue a Statutory Notice under Section 128 of the ICCC Act 2002 to a person, and that person is required by law to comply and provide information that will assist with ICCC’s functions.”
The notice requested for:
- Justifications for the increases in fees and charges;
- The data set used to calculate the increases; and
- The methodology used to calculate the increases.
However, the RTA provided information justifying the increases and the method used to calculate the fees. ICCC then extended the due date to December 14, 2018, for relating data used to calculate the fees, to which the RTA failed to meet.
Under the ICCC Act 2002 when a person is required to furnish information or answer a question and the person refuses or fails to furnish the information or to answer the question; that person is guilty of an offence.
Commissioner Ain said on 7th March 2019, the ICCC filed court proceedings against RTA, for allegedly breaching Section 128 of the ICCC Act.