Consumer & Competition Division

About Us

The Consumer and Competition Division in the Ministry for Competitiveness & Communications was set up following an operations review carried out in 2000. As a result of this review the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Office for Fair Competition were amalgamated into the Consumer and Competition Division. Marcel Pizzuto was appointed Director General of this Division in January 2001 and assumed the responsibilities previously pertaining to the Director Fair Competition and the Director Consumer Affairs. This Division is responsible for the enforcement of the Competition Act, the Consumer Affairs Act, the Trade Descriptions Act, Doorstep Contracts Act and the Product Safety Act.

This Division is made up of three Directorates, namely that of Policy and Regulatory Services; Operations; and Information and Client Affairs.

The Policy and Regulatory Services directorate is mainly made up of professionals and presently includes lawyers and economists. This Directorate is to ensure that the legislation for which this Division is responsible is regularly updated to implement its latest developments in the acquis. This Directorate also takes part in the legal and economic aspects of investigations carried out by the Division and advises the Director General on any matter concerning his functions under the various legislation for which he is responsible.

The Operations directorate is responsible for market surveillance on product safety to ensure that only products that do not represent a risk to the health and safety of persons are placed on the market. The Directorate is also responsible for monitoring the market and being on the lookout for any possible restrictive practices taking place or infringements of any of the provisions of the various consumer laws especially the Price Indication Regulations.

The Information and Client Affairs has a multifunctional role to play. These functions include:

1.      dealing with consumer complaints which could be amicably settled with the trader;

2.      dealing with enquiries received on both competition and/or consumer issues in an informative and expeditious manner;

3.      carrying out an ongoing educational campaign to ensure that both the businessman and the consumer are aware of their rights and obligations under the laws administered by the Division.

Over the past years a number of amendments in consumer and competition legislation were introduced. As regards to:

(1) Consumer Legislation

a.      in January 2001, the Consumer Affairs (Amendment) Act came into force. A number of EU directives were transposed under the legislation including those dealing with misleading advertising, comparative advertising, injunctions, distance selling, commercial guarantees, product liability and unfair contract terms. The former three provisions came into force in January 2001 whilst the latter three provisions came into force by 2002

b.      the EU Directive on doorstep selling was incorporated in the Doorstep Contracts Act that came into force in January 2001

c.       the EU directive on General Product Safety was transposed under the Product Safety Act which came into force on 1st March 2001

d.      on 17th August 2001 the Distance Selling Regulations were published under the Consumer Affairs Act - these regulations came into force on 4th September 2001 by means of LN 203/01

e.      regulations on Price Indication were issued under the Consumer Affairs A ct in October 2002.

f.        provisions under the Consumer Affairs Act dealing with unfair contract terms, sale of goods to consumers and commercial guarantees, and product liability,  came into force in 2002.

g.      the Consumer Credit Regulations came into force in July 2005

(ii) Competition Legislation 

a.      on 1st October 2001 the Competition Amendment Act came into force introducing some very important provisions including giving the Office for Fair Competition more powers to intervene in the market to stop any anti-competitive practice taking place.

b.      on 1st November 2001, a Block Exemption Regulation on Vertical Agreements and Concerted Practices came into force which replaced the four previous Block Exemption Regulations that expired in October 2001.

c.       Merger Regulations under the Competition Act came into force in January 2003

The above is a very brief overview of the CCD set-up and the legislative amendments which took place over the past years. The CCD administrative set-up was strengthened  will continue to be strengthened during this year to enable it to face the challenges which lie ahead for the benefit not only of the consumer but also that of the trader. A publicity campaign which already has started will be intensified during the coming months so that both the consumer and the trader will become more aware of their rights and obligations both under the  Consumer legislation and also the Competition Act. With a well informed trader and consumer there should be less need for the continuous intervention of this Office which will be able to concentrate more on monitoring the market and advising undertakings and consumers than carrying out investigations so that the benefits of a free market economy can be enjoyed by all.