The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says an investigation it is busy with is not into false Israeli labeling by Woolworths‚ but rather is a much broader industry-wide probe into labeling and trade descriptions by retailers‚ including Woolworths.
The commission said it wished to clarify misconceptions that may have been created by a press statement issued by the Boycott‚ Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel in South Africa (BDS South Africa) which indicated that the NCC has lodged an investigation into false Israeli labeling.
Said NCC head‚ Commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed: “I wish to clarify the fact that the NCC’s investigation is not into false Israeli labeling by Woolworths‚ but rather a much broader industry-wide investigation focusing on labeling and trade descriptions by retailers‚ including Woolworths.”
He added: “I am also most perturbed by the publication on social media and other platforms of confidential‚ internal documents of the NCC‚ which has the potential to undermine our work.”
The commission explained that in November 2014 it had received a complaint from a consumer alleging unclear country of origin labeling of fruits that were sold by a certain retailer.
“The NCC after assessing the complaint for jurisdiction in terms of the Consumer Protection Act referred the matter to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman for mediation. The matter was referred back to the NCC earlier this year for further handling and resolution. After a further assessment of it the NCC became aware of a much wider issue and therefore escalated the matter for investigation.”
The NCC added that it was “unable to compute the period required to finalise the investigation due to amongst others‚ the number of retailers that need to be inspected across the country‚ and given resource constraints”.
RDM News Wire.
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