DTI seeks AFFI help in cleanup of franchise industry

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked locally bred franchisers to provide inputs for an administrative order it will shortly issue to stop the proliferation of bad eggs in the domestic franchising industry.

Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (BTRCP) director Victorio Mario Dimagiba said the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI) has agreed to sit the technical working group that is now drafting an administrative order.

“AFFI is one of the biggest associations. They joined us in the technical working group that will come up with the rules,” Dimagiba, a lawyer, said noting that BTRCP expects to release the draft order and circulate it to all stakeholders for another round of consultation.

AFFI, the organization of the prime movers in the local franchising scene composed of home grown franchise concepts, will stage the 9th Filipino Franchise Show, billed as the country’s gradest franchising event on Sept. 16-19, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

The participation of AFFI and other associations in the drafting of the rules, Dimagiba said, is important because the order would require the accreditation of franchisers before they will be allowed to seek franchisees.

“Before, franchising is only free-wheeling. On account of its growing importance; the efforts, time and resources people invest in their ventures, and its implications to the national economy, we will now be more in their documentation and full disclosure,” he explained.

Dimagiba noted that up to now, bad eggs continue to sprout in the franchising industry, victimizing unsuspecting franchisees.

So aside from the new DAO, DTI is also working with AFFI and other organizations in various advocacies, information drive and education of the public against fly-by-night franchisers, Dimagiba stressed.

In recent newspaper advertisements, DTI warned the public against the operation of pseudo franchisers one of which goes by the name Fran.Com.

The rules and regulations in the DAO, Dimagiba added, will put order in the local franchising industry.