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by pltm
(PLTM) - Junior Minister for Trade and Investment Promotion Hon. Marlon Penn said, he cannot understand how other Bills are continuously being passed in the House of Assembly while the urgently needed Consumer Protection Legislation is being stalled. Therefore, he publicly called on Attorney General Baba Aziz to move faster on the Consumer Protection legislation so that it could be before the House of Assembly before the summer ends.
Hon. Penn who admitted that he has promised many times that the Bill will be passed said that he is now putting it on public record that the holdup is from the Attorney General’s Chambers. Hon. Penn while speaking in the Other Business section of the House of Assembly on August 14 stated that the Government has already done its part to take the legislation forward.
“I know Cabinet has made a decision, Hon. Premier to move ahead with the Consumer Protection legislation. It’s been in the Attorney General’s Chambers now for a few months, and I want to encourage the Attorney General who is sitting with us today that we need to have that legislation brought forward to bring some type of control, some kind of guidance; and redress to the commerce market of the BVI," he said.
Hon. Penn noted that the anniversary of the passage of the hurricanes is almost here and he reminded that, the days following the hurricanes many businesses perpetrated forms of price gouging and other unsavory business practices.
This was one of the areas the Junior Minister promised was going to be addressed by the Consumer Protection Bill by this hurricane season. However, as the season drifts on with no Bill before the House, Hon. Penn is still assuring that the price gouging matter will still be addressed.
He told legislators on Tuesday: “Specifically what we experienced a year ago after the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria and the level of gouging and unfair business practices that ensued after those storms, I think it is important Hon. AG for us to have a draft legislation that comes before this House before the end of summer; so that we could at least start the process of approval of such legislation...We promised the people this legislation, we’ve done the work to bring it forward.”
Hon. Penn said that he is perplexed how other Bills that were drafted much later than the Consumer Protection legislation have already been passed, but this Bill continues to languish: “I’ve seen many legislation that weren’t in the pipeline before this come to this Hon. House, this legislation needs to be shown some level of priority now."
He added, "And I am putting it on public record that we have done the work that we needed to do to ensure that you had what you needed to draft this legislation and you need to bring it to the House of Assembly so the people can get a legislation that can work in their favor. Not just for the consumer but the business sector as well in this Territory."
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