Sherab Lhamo

The Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) has secured Nu 1,117,843 in refunds for consumers affected by unethical business practices, according its Bi-annual Report on Consumer Complaints, Redressal, and Market Surveillance covering the period from July 1 to December 31, 2024.

The CCAA conducted market surveillance across 1,305 businesses spanning more than eight dzongkhags. In total, the CCAA received 75 consumer complaints, 50 from individuals and 25 general grievances.

The CCAA could not conduct comprehensive market surveillance across all businesses and dzongkhags due to resource constraint.

The agency prioritised monitoring key marketplaces, focusing on eight dzongkhags, including Thromde towns, during the period.

The CCAA typically handles an average of 12.5 complaints each month, with the highest volume recorded in October 2024, and the lowest in November.

The types of complaints varied significantly, with the most common being breaches of contract (41 percent), followed by defective or faulty products (20 percent), misrepresentation of product prices (12 percent), and the sale of underweight goods (6 percent).

Thimphu recorded 70 percent of total complaints with 53 reported cases, followed by Chukha with four complaints and Punkha, Samtse, and Sarpang with three complaints each.

The agency did not receive any complaints from 11 dzongkhags during the reporting period.

The CCAA acknowledged that lower levels of consumer rights awareness in rural areas might explain the fewer complaints from those regions. However, the agency noted that smaller populations and limited business activity likely contributed to the discrepancy.

To address this, the CCAA has been proactively raising consumer awareness through various channels, including in-person outreach, national media platforms, and social media.

During the review period, the CCAA conducted inspections across various sectors, including

401 groceries, 397 fruits, vegetables, cereals and dry fish retailers, 234 hotels and restaurants, 55 garment retailers and cement agents, 45 meat shops, 38 automobile workshops.

This also included 29 petroleum retail outlets, 21 hardware product retailers, 12 bakeries, six tailoring service and handicraft product retailers, four farm machinery dealers and two beauty parlours.

“In response to the growing number of private ownership of vehicles and construction activities, the CCAA is increasingly prioritising the monitoring of petroleum retail outlets, hardware stores, and cement suppliers to ensure quality of goods remains uncompromised,” states the report.

Between February and June 2024, the CCAA had already secured refunds totaling Nu 155,935 and levied fines amounting to Nu 1,027,200 for unethical business practices.