By AGISANANG SCUFF
1 July 2025- The National Consumer Commission has issued 45 Compliance Notices to 45 non-compliant suppliers of goods across South Africa after uncovering numerous contraventions of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), Act 68 of 2008. This follows a series of nationwide compliance and monitoring inspections to ascertain compliance with the provisions of the CPA.
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) spokesperson, Phetho Ntaba said during these inspections, the NCC discovered that some suppliers were selling expired and spoiled food items, including dairy products, meat products, maize meal, eggs, snacks, biscuits, and noodles. Ntaba said in some cases, items had no expiry or best-before dates (date markings).
“This violates Section 55(2) of the CPA, which guarantees consumers the right to safe, usable and good quality goods. Date markings assist consumers in determining the shelf life and safety of the products before making any purchase.
“Some suppliers continue to sell products like wors, chicken pieces, and other foodstuffs without the proper labelling. This contravenes Section 24 of the CPA. Failure to label goods in accordance with the CPA is a contravention of section 24, read with regulation 6 of the CPA,” she said.
Ntaba further said the CPA provides that a trade description must be applied to the goods or any covering or be attached to the goods, and the labels must not contain misleading information. She added that the NCC discovered that suppliers, especially in rural and peri–urban areas, displayed goods like noodles, sugar, soup and canned foods without any visible pricing.
“This violates Section 23(3), which requires all goods for sale to have prices on them or adjacent to them to ensure transparency of the pricing and consumer choice. Another observation was a widespread disregard of section 26(2-3) wherein suppliers failed to issue complete sale records or receipts to consumers as per the CPA.
“Suppliers of goods and services must issue sales records for every transaction made by consumers. The sales record must include the supplier’s name and address, product description, quantity, price and total amount paid by the consumer, including VAT,” said Ntaba.
She said affected suppliers have been instructed to remedy non-compliance by removing and destroying non-compliant goods from their shelves, properly labelling all products in accordance with the CPA and its regulations, including food and household goods and where applicable, to ensure that prices are displayed on or near all products available for sale and to issue accurate sales records and receipts with all mandatory transaction information.
Ntaba said investigations against other suppliers are at an advanced stage. She said should any businesses fail to adhere to the terms of the Compliance Notices, the NCC may refer them to the National Consumer Tribunal (Tribunal).
Meanwhile, the NCC’s acting Commissioner, Hardin Ratshisusu said: “The Tribunal may impose an administrative fine of up to R1 million or 10% of the supplier’s annual turnover. Pursuant to issuing these compliance notices.
“Food safety remains our top priority. This enforcement is part of targeted action to stem the sale of unsafe products to unsuspecting consumers. The NCC will continue collaboration with other regulators to ensure compliance with the CPA and related legislation.”
The Guardian 