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FCCPC Cautions Coca-Cola, NBC over Deceptive Product Labelling

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The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued its final regulatory order on Coca-Cola and the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Ltd.

A statement by the management of FCCPC in Abuja on Thursday, said the order was issued to the companies for misleading trade descriptions, unfair marketing tactics which violated Sections 116 and 124 (1) of the FCCPAct.

The Commission said the companies had continued to mislead consumers to believing that Coca-Cola “Original Taste, Less Sugar” variant as one and the same, as well as unchanged, when in actual fact, same had indeed changed.

FCCPC said its investigations revealed that the variant was different, differently formulated and not the same as their otherwise “classic, or “Original Taste”.

The Commission said it had reserved the quantum of the penalty appropriate under the FCCPA and Administrative Penalties Regulation 2020 (APR) for further regulatory action, and would impose same in due course.

The Commission said the companies had initially sought to end the investigation and regulatory process by adopting clearer, more transparent and truthful descriptions and differentiation of the relevant variants of their products.

”The Commission granted this accommodation, and also gave Coca-Cola and NBC the opportunity and prerogative to propose remedies including descriptions and product differentiations that comply with applicable statutory standards.

”Coca-Cola, NBC, and the Commission engaged in a lengthy process of building consensus around a mutually agreed differentiation and description of the different relevant products.

”Coca-Cola and NBC sought an extended timeline before changing to the newly mutually agreed product descriptions and differentiations as proposed by them in order to exhaust existing packaging inventory, and lead time for new packaging inventory to arrive in stock.

”The Commission granted the extension as requested.

”On the eve of the cut-off date, and end of the extension, Coca-Cola and NBC abandoned the months of work and mutually agreed outcome with the Commission, for a different business strategy, which has turned out not to meet the applicable standards.

”Over the next years, it became clear to the Commission that neither Coca-Cola, nor NBC desired or intended to provide transparency to consumers in a manner that complied with the standards in the FCCPA,” the Commission said.

FCCPC said that in spite of the multiple and repeated engagements with Coca-Cola, NBC and their respective legal practitioners, the current market status and consumer feedback demonstrated the ineffectiveness and weak differentiations the companies had adopted.

”Coca-Cola and NBC after regulatory intervention still failed to take appropriate steps to modify misleading behaviour demonstrating that the companies acted intentionally by misrepresenting Coca-Cola Original Taste Less Sugar as Coca-Cola Original Taste in a deliberate business strategy.

”Furthermore, NBC used identical packaging for both Zero Sugar and its 50:50 variant of Limca Lime- Lemon flavoured drink, misleading consumers and violating Sections 17(g), 116(1) & (2), and 123 of the FCCPA.

”This also violates Section 2(a) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Act 2004.

”Accordingly, and considering that the conduct continues and remains, the Commission has entered, issued and served its Final order on Coca-Cola and NBC on July 29.

”The Final Order contains the Commission’s findings”.

The Commission said the investigation commenced in 2019. (NAN)

NEWS

Customs Intercept Contraband Worth N510.92m in Two Conths

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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.

This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.
57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)

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APC Forum Decries Deplorable Condition of Federal Roads

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The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.

He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka.
Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora.
”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NAN

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Yuan Strengthens 7. 087 Against Dollar

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The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
(Xinhua/NAN)

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