THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE STAFF of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) refers to the letter titled 'FTC: all bark, no bite?' contained in your newspaper dated October 26, 2004. We think that persons who take complaints to the FTC need to be made aware of the following:
An individual complaint simply provides the Commission with a signal that something might be happening in the market that could be detrimental to competition; and could require our intervention.
The Commission is an impartial fact-finder; it must consider issues neither from the Infor-mant's perspective nor from the Respondent's.
There is no guarantee that a complaint will give rise to a full-scale investigation. It has to be assessed preliminary to determine its merit.
An informant is advised of the outcome of an investigation, upon its termination.
Investigations can be lengthy undertakings. Very few are over in under six months; and those would be the very simple cases.
To a great degree, competition enforcement is about behaviour modification. The FTC record is replete with examples of effective use of our 'bark' to effect beha-viour change in the marketplace.
By way of a word on Mr. Hawthorne's complaint: we note that we received it on June 18, 2004, and acknowledged it in writing within 12 days. Thereafter, we communicated with the Toll Authority by telephone; and later by letter. We are now in possession of the relevant information; and are investigating the matter. The public will know how and when our investigation into this matter ends.
I am, etc.,
BARBARA LEE
Executive Director
Fair Trading Commission
