The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has barred PoS operators in Nigeria from implementing the recently announced increase in charges for PoS transactions.
The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents In Nigeria (AMMBAN) last Friday announced a unified price for PoS operators in Lagos.
The spokesman of the Lagos Chapter of AMMBAN, Stephen Adeoye, had made this known in an interview on Channels TV. He said the association was planning a unified price list for POS transactions.
However, the Commission in a statement released on Wednesday and signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Irukera, said the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) does now allow any trade group to fix price in a way that is capable of distorting the market.
He cautioned AMMBAN against implementing the announced prices, saying any attempt to go ahead would be met with penalties as spelt in the FCCPA.
Irukera pointed out that while the FCCPA 2018 frowns at price fixing by any trade group in Nigeria, it recognizes; indeed encourages the prerogative of businesses to organise in, and as trade associations for acceptable purposes, such as ensuring and enforcing applicable standards and best practices, as well as a measure of self-regulation within the profession or trade.
However, the same FCCPA copiously and extensively limits the scope and extent of such collaboration, particularly to exclude coordination with respect to the scope or supply of services and price of services.
The FCCPA expressly prohibits any price-fixing or agreement among undertakings (whether bilaterally or multilaterally) or by undertakings acting in consensus on the platform, or under the aegis of an association to fix prices, coordinate supply or any other commercially sensitive factors that can limit or substantially prevent competition; or otherwise distort the market.
Irukera urged consumers to provide useful and credible information that can assist investigation and enforcement in this regard.
