The journey leading to the creation of this consumer protection, fair competition and utility regulatory body goes back to the middle of the last century. The FTC evolved from its predecessor the Public Utilities Board which was responsible for regulating public utilities such as electricity and telephone services, from 1955 until 2001.

However, as Barbados developed, the need arose for a new body with a broader mandate to deal with other areas which had become important such as fair competition and consumers’ rights.

Thus, the Fair Trading Commission eventually came into being on January 2nd, 2001, through the Fair Trading Commission Act.

Our Duties

• Determining principles, rates and standards of service for regulated service providers;
• Monitoring general business conduct
• Investigating possible breaches of the Acts administered by the FTC.
• Educating and informing businesses and consumers about the requirements of these Acts.
• Taking enforcement action when needed

Our Values

• Effective - We meet our established goals and objectives.
• Credible - We are committed to giving timely and efficient service to consumers and service providers and to consulting with interested parties in the execution of our mission.
• Consistent - We bring predictability to our decision-making process and issue guidelines and directives where needed.
• Cerebral - Our investigations and decisions are based on sound research and we deliberately foster an intellectually challenging work environment.
• Proactive - We anticipate issues, set priorities and lead in matters which are within our mandate.
• Integrity - Our procedures and practices are transparent. We carry out our activities with the highest level of professionalism, fairness, trust, respect and honesty.

Our People

The FTC has eleven commissioners, drawn from various sectors of business. It is these commissioners who make decisions on applications, issue orders, initiate prosecution if needs be and create policy. Please click here for our Commissioner's bios...