Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC)

The ICCC revealed this during a seminar hosted to commemorate World Competition Day on December 5^th.

A ‘Leniency Policy’ gives companies full or partial immunity from fines or penalties when they provide information about a cartel in which they participated in.

Cartel conduct is an agreement by competitors to coordinate their prices or output in order to increase their collective profit.

This can include:

A ruling on the motion was handed on 27^th March 2018 in favour of the ICCC, dismissing Steamships Trading Company’s motion to dismiss the case.

The court granted the case to go for trial.

ICCC made its intention known today through a media conference to pursue the case against Steamships Trading Company Limited and others for certain behaviours in the coastal shipping industry resulting in infringing and non-compliance with the principles of the ICCC Act.

Therefore any price change in the retail prices of diesel will affect wholesale and retail prices of these goods based on logistical and operational factors, said Independent Competition and Consumer Commission (ICCC) Commissioner, Paulus Ain.

“This means that any increase/decrease in fuel costs will directly increase or decrease the operational costs of the manufacturing companies and freighters, which means that prices of these goods at the wholesale and retail level will change accordingly,” said Ain.

In a statement by the Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC), fuel prices for petrol, diesel, kerosene all rose in response to rising global oil prices.

For Port Moresby motorists, petrol rose by 13.06 toea per litre (tpl) and now sits at 319.58 tpl; diesel increased by 5.76 tpl and is now selling at 259.05 tpl; and kerosene prices grew by 7.73 tpl to sell at 244.15 tpl.

The ICCC states that retail prices for all other designated centres will change according to their approved in-country shipping and road freight rates charged by other fuel distributers.

This follows a drop in fuel prices in the last two months.

The new prices are as follows:

The Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) announced yesterday the new retail fuel prices which come into effect.

Petrol decreases by 7.42 toea per litre (tpl) from 318 tpl in May to 310.95 in June.

Diesel now sits at 251.82 tpl after dropping by 7.54 tpl from 260.11 last month.

And kerosene drops from 244.38 tpl in May to 237.08 after falling by 6.63 tpl.

Ain said this following the signing of his employment contract on November 29 at Government House.

He reiterated what he said a year ago following his appointment as Acting Commissioner that it was his goal to bring back credibility to state regulatory bodies.

“As I had stated when taking over office last year, I want to bring back the credibility of the ICCC and trust and confidence of the regulated entities. Above all, I want to ensure that there is vibrant competition in our economy and the interests of our consumers are protected,” he said.

Acting CEO of the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC), Avi Hubert, tells Loop PNG that this is not necessarily the case as there are other factors that affect the price.

“There are other utility costs, issues of law and order, (and) security, those are the cost and how it can affect retail price,” he said.

The issue was raised by CEO of the Manufacturers Council of PNG, Chey Scovell, who said the high cost of electricity, among other costs, was scaring potential investment and killing domestic businesses.

The review will cover a wide range of issues including the cost and price of  services provision in the industry.

Before conducting the review an analysis of the '2006 Air Transport Review Report' by the Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC) will be done.

Some of the recommendations of the review have been implemented by the Government however, it is believed more still needs to be done.

The review is part of the governments intention to promote a competitive and dynamic private sector.

This was one of the key areas highlighted by Treasury Minister, Patrick Pruaitch, when presenting to Parliament last week the ICCC’s 2014 and 2015 Audited Reports.

Pruaitch said consumer protection was a key function of the ICCC, but a daunting one given the complexities faced in PNG.