The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has made an undertaking before the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal that it will not take any “regulatory or enforcement action” against Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd pending the determination of its appeal against the commission’s allegations against the company.
The commission had accused Coca-Cola of alleged misleading trade descriptions and unfair marketing tactics in their products Original Taste and Less Sugar.
FCCPC lawyer, Abimbola Ojenike made the oral undertaking on Wednesday before a three-member panel of the tribunal, led by Thomas Okosu.
This follows several motions by Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited in appeal number CCPT/APP/5/2024, which urged the tribunal to restrain the FCCPC from taking further regulatory and enforcement action against the appellant pending the determination of its amended appeal.
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Nairametrics previously reported that the commission found Coca-Cola Nigeria and Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) in alleged violation of section 116 of the FCCPC Act as well as section 124 1(a) of the Commission’s Establishment Act.
The FCCPC noted that Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd and NBC were guilty of deceiving the public by describing the variant of its Coca-Cola ‘Original Taste, Less Sugar’ as the same as its ‘Original Taste’ variant in terms of formulation.
The commission stated that the issue of abuse of dominance and the appropriate penalty under the FCCPA and Administrative Penalties Regulation 2020 (APR) have been reserved for further regulatory action, with penalties to be imposed in due course.
At the resumed sitting on Wednesday, Professor Gbolahan Elias, SAN and Abubakar G. Anafi announced the appearance of Coca-Cola.
Anafi urged the tribunal to restrain the FCCPC in line with its motions seeking restraining orders.
“The second motion is dated August 21, 2024, and it is also seeking to restrain the respondent from taking further regulatory and enforcement action against the appellant,” he added.
Responding, FCCPC lawyer, Ojenike assured the tribunal that the commission would halt taking any enforcement action against Coca-Cola pending the determination of the appeal.
Ojenike also urged the tribunal to allow it to formally respond to Coca-Cola’s amended notice of appeal.
Anafi told the tribunal that in view of the undertaking by the counsel of FCCPC that the commission will not take any enforcement and regulatory action against the appellant, he applied to withdraw the motions aforementioned.
Ruling on their submissions, Okosu held that following FCCPC’s undertaking, the appellant’s withdrawal of its restraining motions is granted.
The commission had clarified that it initiated its investigation in 2019 after the companies transitioned the Coke brand from regular sugar to non-nutritive sweeteners.
It was alleged that these practices followed similar actions with the Sprite and Fanta brands, which violated FCCPA regulations on misleading trade descriptions and abuse of dominant market positions in certain locations.
Coca-Cola had denied the allegations.
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