Commission chief welcomes changes to investment act

THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) has welcomed the announcement made by the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) on tabling the proposed changes to the IPA Act (1992) at the next Parliament sitting.
The ICCC was responding to an article in yesterday’s The National in which IPA managing director Clarence Hoot stated that work was in progress to table proposed amendments to the IPA Act that included the reserved business activity list.
ICCC commissioner and chief executive officer Paulus Ain said as the country’s consumer watchdog, it had found that many businesses throughout the country were owned and operated by foreign nationals.
“Our people operating small to medium enterprises (SMEs) need to be protected and a review of the reserved business activity list included in the IPA Act is most welcome,” Ain said in a statement.
“Over the years and as recently as during our price monitoring exercise that ICCC undertook during the state of emergency we found that many businesses that were meant for Papua New Guineans were in fact owned by foreigners.
“While I agree that there are operators who have been paying taxes and providing employment, there are still others who continue to break laws and engage in activities meant for Papua New Guineans.”
Ain said apart from the ICCC’s main role of consumer protection, it would also be supporting the proposed amendments by the IPA to protect the interests of Papua New Guineans.