access agreement

means an agreement under an access regime for the granting of access to infrastructure facilities, or to services provided by means of infrastructure facilities;

access regime

means a scheme (whether of a legislative or administrative nature, or any other nature) set up to permit third party access to infrastructure facilities, or to a service provided by means of infrastructure facilities, that are wholly or substantially owned, controlled or operated by a single person;

acquire

includes—

• (a)in relation to goods, acquire by purchase or exchange or by taking on lease, on hire or on hire purchase;
• (b)in relation to services, accept;

arrive at

, in relation to an understanding, includes reach or enter into;

auction

means a sale at which prospective purchasers are invited to bid and includes a sale at which bids are suggested and the suggested amounts progressively reduced until a bid is actually made;

authorisation

means an authorisation granted by the Commission;

authority

, in relation to the State, means—

• (a)a body corporate established for a purpose of the State by or under a law of the State; or
• (b)an incorporated company in which the State, or a body corporate referred to in paragraph (a) has a controlling interest;

business

includes—

• (a)a business not carried on for profit;
• (b)a trade or profession or vocation, and the expression in the course of business shall be construed accordingly;

charge

includes a charge for the performance of services being in the course of business, including any charge for the application of any process to goods and any rates made or levied by a council under the Local Government Act 1972;

Chairperson

means the Chairperson of the Commission;

Chief Executive Officer

may also mean a permanent secretary of a government agency;

Commission

means the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission established by section 7;

competition

includes competition from imported goods or services rendered by persons not resident or not carrying on business in Fiji;

component part

includes an accessory;

Corporation

includes a firm, partnership, enterprise, company, or association, (natural or juridical persons), or any combination thereof, irrespective of the mode of creation or control or ownership, private or State, which are engaged in trade or commerce, and includes their branches, subsidiaries, affiliates, or other entities directly or indirectly controlled by them;

consumer

refers to a person who in relation to a particular transaction, whether a separate contract or separate transaction within a contract acquires goods or services as a consumer and shall be presumed hereunto unless the contrary is proved;

court

means the High Court of Fiji;

credit

includes any form of financial accommodation;

Deputy Chairperson

means the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission;

determination

means an arbitration determination under section 35;

document

means a document in any form whether signed or initialed or otherwise authenticated by its maker or not, and includes—

• (a)material on which there is writing or printing;
• (b)information recorded or stored by means of any tape-recorder, computer or other device and material subsequently derived from information so recorded or stored including—
  • (i)a label, marking or other writing that identifies or describes any thing of which it forms part, or to which it is attached by any means;
  • (ii)a book, map, plan, graph or drawing; and
  • (iii)a photograph, film, negative, or other device in which one or more visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of other equipment) of being reproduced;
• (c)accounts, balance sheets, vouchers, records, minutes of meetings, contracts, files or other materials where there is writing or printing, or on which there are marks, symbols or perforations having meaning for persons qualified to interpret them; and
• (d)a disc, tape or any information recorded or stored by means of any computer or other device whatsoever, and any material subsequently derived from information so recorded or stored;

employee

means any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer, whether the contract is for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, is expressed or implied, is entered into orally or in writing, and whether it is a contract of service or apprenticeship or learnership, or a contract personally to execute any work or labour;

employer

means any person or any firm, corporation or company, public authority or body of persons who or which has entered into a contract of service to employ any person, and includes the Government or any local government authority;

financial year

,

in relation to the Commission, means a period of 12 months which coincides with the financial year of the Government;

giving effect to

,

in relation to a provision of a contract, agreement or understanding, includes doing an act or thing in pursuance of or in accordance with or enforcing or purportedly enforcing;

goods

includes any article, product or thing which is the subject of trade and commerce and includes—

• (a)ships, aircraft and other vehicles;
• (b)animals, including fish;
• (c)minerals, trees and crops, whether on, under or attached to land or not;
• (d)gas and electricity; and
• (e)any component part of goods;

government agency

means a government entity that supplies services to the public or any part of the public;

government company

means a company where all of the stock or shares in the capital of the company is or are beneficially owned by the State, whether such shares are held in the name of a Minister, public officer, nominee of the State or otherwise;

government entity

means—

• (a)a government company or part of a government company;
• (b)a statutory authority or a division, branch or other part of a statutory authority, by whatever name called;
• (c)a ministry or department or a division, branch or other part of a ministry or department, by whatever name called; or
• (d)a public enterprise as defined in section 2 of the Public Enterprises Act 2019 or part of a public enterprise or subsidiary of a public enterprise;

market

means a market in Fiji and, when used in relation to any goods or services, includes a market for those goods or services and other goods or services that are substitutable for, or otherwise competitive with, the first mentioned goods or services;

maximum price

means the maximum price for goods or services fixed under the provisions of section 44;

member

means a member or an associate member of the Commission;

hire-purchase agreement

means a letting of goods with an option to purchase;

occupier

, in relation to any building, stall, vehicle, aircraft, or vessel used in navigation or in relation to the use of any place for any purpose means the person for the time being in charge of the building, stall, vehicle, aircraft, or vessel, or, as the case may be, the person for the time being using that place for that purpose;

officer

,

when used with reference to an organisation, includes any member of the executive committee thereof and any officer of a branch thereof;

organisation

means a trade union or other association of persons which is representative of employees or employers, as the case may be;

practice of exclusive dealing

means the practice of exclusive dealing referred to in section 69(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (9);

practice of resale price maintenance

means the practice of resale price maintenance referred to in section 70 or 70A;

premises

includes—

• (a)a place, whether a building or in the open air where any business, industry, production or trade is carried on by a person whether by himself or herself or through an agent, by whatever name called;
• (b)a place where any books of account or other documents pertaining to any trade or transaction are kept;
• (c)a dwelling house, if any part thereof is used for the purpose of carrying on any business, industry, production or trade;
• (d)a vehicle or vessel or any other mobile device with the help of which any trade or business is carried on;

price

includes a charge of any description and the cost of obtaining credit as well as any price for the sale of goods, being prices in the course of business;

provision

in relation to an understanding, means any matter forming part of the understanding;

published

in relation to a statement includes—

• (a)inserted in a publication;
• (b)publicly exhibited in any place;
• (c)contained in a document or other thing capable of providing information that is given or sent to any person or left at his or her address;
• (d)broadcast by radio or television or otherwise publicly announced by any means;
• (e)reproduced electronically;

record

includes any record of information however compiled, recorded or stored and any books, documents or writings;

referring authority

in relation to a regulated industry, means the Minister having responsibility for that industry;

regulated industry

means—

• (a)an industry engaged in the supply of electricity, water, sewerage, post, broadcasting, telecommunications, ports or civil aviation services; or
• (b)any other industry that is declared under section 5 to be a regulated industry;

related Act or Decree

rent

, in relation to the letting or continued letting by any person of any premises under any tenancy, includes—

• (a)any sum payable to that person under that tenancy, notwithstanding that such sum is designated as a payment additional to the rent; and
• (b)any goods or services to which that person is entitled under that tenancy if the value of such goods or services has been quantified in terms of money;

but shall not include any sum attributable to any rates or charges levied under the Local Government Act 1972, Electricity Act 2017 or Water Authority of Fiji Act 2007 and paid or payable by that person in respect of, or in connection with, those premises;

retail

,

when used in relation to any sale, means a sale by a retailer to a consumer;

retail price

means the price paid or payable for goods sold by retail;

retailer

means a trader who sells goods to a consumer;

send

includes deliver;

services

includes any rights (including rights in relation to, and interests in, real or personal property) benefits, privileges, accommodation or facilities that are, or are to be, provided, granted or conferred in trade or commerce, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes the rights, benefits, privileges and facilities that are, or are to be, provided, granted or conferred under—

• (a)a contract for or in relation to—
  • (i)the performance of work (including building work and work of a professional nature);
  • (ii)whether with or without the supply of goods;
  • (iii)contract for, or involving, the provision of gas or electricity or the provision of any other form of energy;
  • (iv)the provision, or making available for use, of facilities for amusement, entertainment, recreation or instruction; or
  • (v)the conferring of rights, benefits or privileges for which remuneration is payable in the form of a royalty, tribute, levy or similar exaction;
  • (vi)conferring of rights under an agreement for the provision of board or lodging;
• (b)a contract of insurance;
• (c)a contract between a banker and a customer of the banker entered into in the course of the carrying on by the banker of the business of banking; or
• (d)a contract for or in relation to the lending of money, but does not include rights or benefits being the supply of goods or the performance of work under a contract of service;
• (e)any service supplied or carried on for hire or reward by any person engaged in trade or business;
• (f)any rights under an agreement for the provision of board or lodging;

Small Claims Tribunal

means a tribunal duly constituted under the Small Claims Tribunal Act 1991;

supply

, with its cognate expressions, includes to sell, or to agree to sell, to offer, advertise, have in possession for any such purposes, expose, transmit, convey, deliver, make or prepare for sale, or to hire or to exchange or dispose of for any consideration whatsoever, or to transmit, convey or deliver in pursuance of a sale, hiring, exchange or disposal as aforesaid;

trade or commerce

includes any business or professional activity within Fiji or between Fiji and places outside Fiji;

trader

means any person who sells, has sold or proposes to sell any goods or who supplies or who carries on any service, whether for profit or not;

trading coupons

includes any coupon, stamp, token, cover, package, document, or other thing issued for delivery, either directly or indirectly, to the purchaser of any goods or services which, by itself or with any other trading coupon or trading coupons, or with any other act or thing, and whether or not it has to be produced or surrendered to any person, entitles or purports to entitle the holder thereof to receive in respect of the purchase of such goods or services any discount or any other gift, allowance, concession, or benefit of any kind whatsoever;

understanding

means agreement, contract, whether verbal or written;

unsolicited goods

means goods sent to a person without any request for the goods being made by, or by the authority of, the person;

unsolicited services

means services supplied to a person without any request for the services being made by, or by the authority of, the person;

wholesale

means the sale or supply of goods to a person for the purpose of resale or for use by such person in his or her trade or business; and

wholesale price

means the price paid or payable for goods sold by wholesale.

• (a)the use of an infrastructure facility (such as a road or railway);
• (b)the handling or transporting of things (such as goods or people); and
• (c)a communications service or similar service; but does not include—
  • (i)the supply of goods; or
  • (ii)the use of intellectual property or a production process, except to the extent that supply or use is an integral but subsidiary part of the service.

• (a)a reference in this Act to the ownership, control or operation of infrastructure facilities includes a reference to the jointly owned, controlled or operated infrastructure facilities; and
• (b)a reference in this Act to a person who owns, controls or operates infrastructure facilities includes a reference to each joint owner, controller or operator.

• (a)a reference in this Act to the provision of services includes a reference to the jointly provided services; and
• (b)a reference in this Act to a person who provides services includes a reference to each joint provider.

• (a)a reference to engaging in conduct shall be read as a reference to doing or refusing to do any act, including the making of, or the giving effect to a provision of, a contract or arrangement, the arriving at, or the giving effect to a provision of, an understanding or the requiring of the giving of, or the giving of, a covenant;
• (b)a reference to conduct, when that expression is used as a noun otherwise than as mentioned in paragraph (a), shall be read as a reference to the doing of or the refusing to do any act, including the making of, or the giving effect to a provision of, a contract or arrangement, the arriving at, or the giving effect to a provision of, an understanding or the requiring of the giving of, or the giving of, a covenant;
• (c)a reference to refusing to do an act includes a reference to—
  • (i)refraining (otherwise than inadvertently) from doing that act; or
  • (ii)making it known that that act will not be done; and
• (d)a reference to a person offering to do an act, or to do an act on a particular condition, includes a reference to the person making it known that the person will accept applications, offers or proposals for the person to do that act or to do that act on that condition, as the case may be.

• (a)at an earlier time the provision of the contract or the covenant did not have that effect or was not regarded as likely to have that effect; or
• (b)the provision of the contract or the covenant will not or may not have that effect at a later time.

• (a)a reference to the acquisition of shares in the capital of a body corporate shall be construed as a reference to an acquisition, whether alone or jointly with another person, of any legal or equitable interest in such shares; and
• (b)a reference to the acquisition of assets of a body corporate shall be construed as a reference to an acquisition, whether alone or jointly with another person, of any legal or equitable interest in such assets but does not include a reference to an acquisition by way of charge only or an acquisition in the ordinary course of business.

• (a)that other body corporate—
  • (i)controls the composition of the board of directors of the first mentioned body corporate;
  • (ii)is in a position to cast, or control the casting of, more than one-half of the maximum number of votes that might be cast at a general meeting of the first mentioned body corporate; or
  • (iii)holds more than one-half of the allotted share capital of the first mentioned body corporate (excluding any part of that allotted share capital, that carries no right to participate beyond a specified amount in a distribution of either profits or capital); or
• (b)the first mentioned body corporate is a subsidiary of any body corporate that is that other body corporate's subsidiary (including any body corporate that is that other body corporate's subsidiary by another application of other applications of this paragraph).

• (a)a person cannot be appointed as a director without the exercise in his or her favour by that other body corporate of such a power; or
• (b)a person’s appointment as a director follows necessarily from his or her being a director or other officer of that other body corporate.

• (a)any shares held or power exercisable by that other body corporate in a fiduciary capacity shall be treated as not held or exercisable by it;
• (b)subject to paragraphs (c) and (d), any shares held or power exercisable—
  • (i)by any person as a nominee for that other body corporate (except where that other body corporate is concerned only in a fiduciary capacity); or
  • (ii)by, or by a nominee for, a subsidiary of that other body corporate, not being a subsidiary that is concerned only in a fiduciary capacity,

  shall be treated as held or exercisable by that other body corporate;

• (c)any shares held or power exercisable by any person by virtue of the provisions of any debentures of the first mentioned body corporate, or of a trust deed for securing any allotment of such debentures, shall be disregarded; and
• (d)any shares held or power exercisable by, or by a nominee for, that other body corporate or its subsidiary (not being held or exercisable as mentioned in paragraph (c) shall be treated as not held or exercisable by that other body corporate or its subsidiary, as the case may be, includes the lending of money and the shares are held or the power is exercisable by way of security only for the purposes of a transaction entered into in the ordinary course of that business.

• (a)is the holding company of another body corporate;
• (b)is a subsidiary of another body corporate; or
• (c)is a subsidiary of the holding company of another body corporate, that first mentioned body corporate and that other body corporate shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be related to each other.

• (a)a reference to the acquisition of goods includes a reference to the acquisition of property in, or rights in relation to, goods in pursuance, of a supply of the goods;
• (b)a reference to the supply or acquisition of goods or services includes a reference to agreeing to supply or acquire goods or services;
• (c)a reference to the supply or acquisition of goods includes a reference to the supply or acquisition of goods together with other property or services, or both;
• (d)a reference to the supply or acquisition of services includes a reference to the supply or acquisition of services together with property or other services, or both; and
• (e)a reference to the re-supply of goods acquired from a person includes a reference to—
  • (i)a supply of the goods to another person in an altered form or condition; and
  • (ii)a supply to another person of goods in which the first mentioned goods have been incorporated.

• (a)the contract or arrangement was made, or the understanding was arrived at, or the proposed contract or arrangement is to be made, or the proposed understanding is to be arrived at, between persons any 2 or more of whom are competitive with each other; and
• (b)the provision has the purpose of preventing, restricting or limiting—
  • (i)the supply of goods or services to, or the acquisition of goods or services from, particular persons or classes of persons; or
  • (ii)the supply of goods or services to, or the acquisition of goods or services from, particular persons or classes of persons in particular circumstances,

  by all or any of the parties to the contract arrangement or understanding or of the proposed parties to the proposed contract, arrangement or understanding or, if a party or proposed party is a body corporate, by a body corporate that is related to the body corporate.

• (a)a provision of a contract, arrangement or understanding or of a proposed contract, arrangement or understanding, or a covenant or of a proposed covenant,

  shall be deemed to have had, or to have, a particular purpose if—

  • (i)the provision was included in the contract, arrangement, or understanding or is to be included in the proposed contract, arrangement or understanding, or the covenant was required to be given or the proposed covenant is to be required to be given, as the case may be for that purpose or for purposes that included or include that purpose; and
  • (ii)that purpose was or is a substantial purpose; and
• (b)a person shall be deemed to have engaged or to engage in conduct for a particular purpose or a particular reason if—
  • (i)the person engaged or engages in the conduct for purposes that included or include that purpose or for reasons that, included or include that reason, as the case may be; and
  • (ii)that purpose or reason was or is a substantial purpose or reason.

• (a)a reference to a contract, shall be construed as including a reference to a lease of, or a licence in respect of, land or a building or part of a building and shall be so construed notwithstanding the express references in this Act to such leases or licences;
• (b)a reference to making or entering into a contract, in relation to such a lease or licence, shall be read as a reference to granting or taking the lease or licence; and
• (c)a reference to a party to a contract, in relation to such a lease or licence, shall be read as including a reference to any person bound by, or entitled to the benefit of, any provision contained in the lease or licence.

• (a)carried on jointly by 2 or more persons, whether or not in partnership; or
• (b)carried on by a body corporate formed by 2 or more persons for the purpose of enabling those persons to carry on that activity jointly by means of their joint control, or by means of their ownership of shares in the capital, of that body corporate; and

• (a)a reference to loss or damage, other than a reference to the amount of any loss or damage, includes a reference to injury; and
• (b)a reference to the amount of any loss or damage includes a reference to damages in respect of an injury.

• (a)the law relating to restraint of trade in so far as that law is capable of operating concurrently with this Act;
• (b)the law relating to breaches of confidence,

but nothing in the law referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) affects the interpretation of this Act.