Coca-Cola, NBC Risk Fines over Alleged Breaches of Consumer Rights Law

James Emejo in Abuja

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, yesterday, said it will impose appropriate penalties in due course against Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) over alleged violations of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018.

The FCCPC management, in a statement, said it was convinced, based on evidence, that Coca-Cola and NBC on multiple occasions and counts violated, and remained in violation of FCCPA, particularly with respect to transparency and clear disclosure obligations to their product patrons.

It stated that the companies described their Coca-Cola “Original Taste, Less Sugar” variant as one and the same, as well as unchanged, “When in actual fact, same had, indeed, changed, was different, differently formulated and not the same as their otherwise classic, or Original Taste.
“One of the parties also attempted to, or misled the commission under Section 112 of the FCCPA.”

The commission said it opened a formal investigation against the companies between June 2019 and December 2020, as well as engaged repeatedly, seeking and securing vast internal documents and production logs to determine the veracity or otherwise of allegations that were subject of investigation or explanations provided by Coca-Cola and NBC.

Specifically, the commission said it found misleading trade descriptions under Section 116 FCCPA by continuing to mislead consumers to believing Coca-Cola Original Taste was not materially different from Coca-Cola Original Taste “Less Sugar”.

The consumer rights protection commission further highlighted unfair marketing tactics, “Contrary to Section 124(1)(a) of the FCCPA, Coca-Cola Nigeria markets Coca-Cola Original Taste Less Sugar in packaging first, indistinguishable, and now not sufficiently distinguishable from Coca-Cola Original Taste, contrary to Sections 123(1)(a), (b), and (c) of the FCCPA.”

It said, “Further, 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.

“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 and Section 2(a) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Act 2004.

“The commission found NBC applied deceptive trade descriptions to the two variants and supply these products to consumers, violating Section 116 (3) of the FCCPA.

“The commission has reserved the question of Abuse of Dominance and quantum of the penalty appropriate under the FCCPA and Administrative Penalties Regulation 2020 (APR) for further regulatory action, and same will be imposed in due course.”