There is a need for Compulsory Third Party Compensation Tribunal in Fiji - Kumar

The Consumer Council of Fiji CEO Premila Kumar says there is a need for a Compulsory Third Party Compensation Tribunal in the country.

Kumar says this will benefit consumers who have lost money through unfair means.

She hopes the tribunal will not only look at hire purchase of basic goods and services but also look at more complicated cases which is bigger in monetary value.

Meanwhile, Kumar says there is also a need for a Compulsory Third Party Insurance legislature reform because it was drawn back in 1948.

Representative of the Insurance Council of Fiji, Thomas Naua says the legislation needs to be reviewed as it is very old.

The government is planning to set up a tribunal to look at the issue of compensations.

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the issue of third party compensation through the insurance scheme has primarily been left unregulated and has been left to the court system to award damages.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the government passed a law a few years ago where it restricted the amount of fees the lawyers could take and that is a maximum of 10 percent.

He says we all have heard some horrendous stories where the victims got compensation payments of $50,000 or $100,000 and the lawyers had taken half of it but that has now stopped.

The Acting Prime Minister says the Solicitor General=s Office has already started looking at a multi pronged tribunal where people could bring the issues to the tribunal.

He says the rules relating to the payout are also being considered.