Court grants FCCPC statutory authority to investigate airline ticket prices

The Federal High Court in Abuja has upheld the statutory authority of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to investigate consumer complaints relating to airline ticket prices.

The court clarified that the Commission’s investigative powers under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA, 2018) are distinct from its exercise of the power to regulate prices.

In a ruling delivered on June 29, the Honorable Justice BFM Nyako dismissed the lawsuit brought by Air Peace Limited, challenging the Commission’s authority to investigate complaints regarding possible ticket price exploitation.

Reacting to the ruling, the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Tunji Bello, in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, said the decision constitutes an important judicial affirmation of the Commission’s statutory responsibility to investigate market conduct where there are reasonable grounds to believe that consumers or competition may be adversely affected.

“The Court again affirmed an important principle under the federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act. Investigating consumer complaints is fundamentally different from regulating prices.

“The FCCPC neither sought to set nor regulate Air Peace’s fares. It merely exercised its lawful authority to obtain information as part of an investigation into a matter of legitimate consumer concern.

“An investigation is a fact-finding process. It is neither a finding of responsibility nor a enforcement action,” he said.

Continuing, Bello said: “Every responsible regulator must be able to investigate credible complaints affecting consumers and markets without such investigations being misinterpreted as findings of liability, enforcement action or price regulation.”

It said the ruling provided important legal clarity on the scope of the Commission’s investigative powers, while confirming that the exercise of statutory price regulation powers remains governed by the separate legal framework established by the FCCPA.

The Chief Executive reiterated the Commission’s commitment to exercising its statutory mandate in a fair, transparent manner and respecting the rule of law.

In his April ruling, Judge Omotosho rejected the airline’s argument as “unreasonable.”

Air Peace argued that the Commission had no authority to investigate airline ticket prices unless the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria first invoked the price regulation provisions of the FCCPA.

The airline then sought declarations that the Commission had no authority to investigate the matter, along with orders permanently barring it from doing so.

However, Judge Nyako rejected the arguments and found that the Commission acted within its investigative powers under Sections 17, 32 and 33 of the FCCPA when it requested information from Air Peace in response to consumer complaints.

Justice Nyako further stated that the Commission did not order Air Peace to reduce its fares, prescribe a pricing formula, impose any prices or declare the airline’s fares illegal.