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GFSB call - again - for the setting up of an Office of Fair Trading
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The Gibraltar Federation of Small Business has again called for the setting up of an Office of Fair Trading, and despite responses that this is being considered by Government, nothing has materialised.
Speaking last night to a record number of just under 260 people at their annual dinner, GFSB chairman Ken Robinson added: There may be some misunderstanding of the definition of an Office of Fair Trading. An OFT is a non-ministerial government department set up to make markets work well for consumers. It is not a Consumer protection department although such a department can form part of the OFT.
The OFT should act as an official consumer and protection watchdog by ensuring that trading standards and good practice are employed. These can relate to mergers, monopolies, unfair granting of contracts and many other subjects both from private and public areas. The EU have been very active in this field by producing a considerable volume of Directives over many years which no doubt equally apply to Gibraltar.
The UK established its OFT in 1973, some 34 years ago. I was reading the information available on the internet from one of our Financial competitors, the Isle of Man, and they are also very strong on this subject. Their comments suggested that the Trading Standards office look carefully at items produced on the Island as well as the sale of counterfeit goods and the concept of false or misleading advertisements.
BANKING CHARGES
"Most of you will be aware of the actions commenced in UK by the OFT relating to certain charges made by the banking industry which I believe continue through Court proceedings," he said. "Maybe there will be some benefits to our members from these UK Court actions but to date I am not aware of any!"
Mr Robinson went on to say that these comments show that an Office of Fair Trading can deal with all aspects of business whether related to the retail, wholesale or service industries and indeed the civil service and Government.
"We at the Federation strongly request the Government to seriously consider the implementation of such an office to ensure a level playing field across the board which they, and the people of Gibraltar, continue to seek," he urged.
EXTRA HOLIDAYS
He recalled that before Christmas he had mentioned that "the gratuitous gift of extra days holidays to nearly 5000 employees in Gibraltar was going to cost the taxpayers, you and me, at least two million pounds. I know that within our membership there were many complaints that the private sector could not compete and it will be interesting to see what other changes are going to happen with the official employees during the year. Employees have the right to seek the best terms possible for themselves but when the principal employer in Gibraltar exceeds the basic standard without any consultation, one can only foresee problems"
He went on to introduce his vice Chair and the Minister Joe Holliday who made the presentations relating to a very successful ISO 9001 course held last year which resulted in 13 companies achieving accreditation and only one failure where a business chose not to adhere to good practice relating to payment of debts.
The after dinner speaker was Arnold Brown from Scotland. "I am sure that as a stand up comedian you will appreciate him rather than the usual politicians!" quipped Mr Robinson.
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