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| Sunday, 29 May 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Consumer Ombudsman by National Consumer Watch Towards a proactive consumer Affairs Authority The National Consumer Watch has been informed by the editorial staff of this newspaper that this weekly column on The Consumer Ombudsman is gaining in popularity. Many readers are also responding as consumers. However, while public awareness is very good and commendable and indeed is one of the main objectives of the National Consumer Watch, we also need preventive action by the state to safeguard and encourage Truth in Advertising. We have in several articles in this Sunday Column referred to the concept of Deficiency of Service. Many a complaint appears to fall within the rubric of Deficiency of Service. Some of the cases decided in India and reported in the journal entitled 'Consumer Claims Journal' shows the wide range of claims made by consumers and decided by Courts, often resulting in an award for compensation against the service provider. These cases range from complaints against Insurance Companies, Banks, Property Developers, Medical Services, Telephone Service Providers etc. They are illustrative of the nature of the complaints made and the remedies provided. Some of these decisions have been given by the Supreme Court of India; others by the High Court and others by the State Commissions of the different States. In Sri Lanka, the requisite legal provision is found in the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003 which repealed the earlier laws- namely the Consumer Protection Act No. 1 of 1979, the Fair Trading Commission Act No. 1 of 1987 and the Control of Prices Act (Chapter 173 ). The Consumer Affairs Authority Act empowers the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to inquire into certain matters set out in the Act and take remedial action such as ordering the manufacturer or trader to pay compensation to the aggrieved party or replace the goods not conforming to the standards or specifications or to order a refund of the amount paid for such goods. These powers are provided in Section 13 of the Act. An interesting matter reported in the newspapers few days ago was that an Order made by the Consumer Affairs Authority(CAA) refusing an application to increase the price of a brand of milk was succefully appealed by the producer of the milk on the ground that no reasons had been given by the CAA (according to the news item). This would show that where an inquiry is held by the CAA and it forms an opinion in regard to the matter before it, there should be a statement of reasons for its finding . Apart from milk, another area of wide concern to the public is the price of gas . Here we note that the Consumer Affairs Authority is again holding the reins and preventing another increase in the price of gas. Here again we hope the Authority will give cogent reasons for withholding or preventing a price increase. If reasons are not given, the producers or those who market the gas will obtain a court order against the Authority as happened in the case of milk . The point we urge is that the Consumer Affairs Authority was established in December 2002. While we can understand some time being spent to organise itself and advertise and obtain the necessary staff, the public now expect the Authority to be more pro-active and effective. Many consumers are still not even aware of the existence of the Authority and how to contact it. Some media advertisements by the Authority in this regard would be most welcome. We also understand that since the Authority was created there have been rapid turnover in the Office of the Director-General of the Authority who is the Chief Executive Officer. Without a Director-General one cannot expect the Authority to function effectively. Unless the Regulatory bodies established by the state send out the correct message to the public at large very little will happen. In this context, we applaud the steps taken by our Central Bank which is the watchdog over the financial sector. When dubious financial institutions were advertising for deposits from the public, the Central Bank quickly published notices in the media specifying the approved or supervised Finance Companies and indirectly cautioning the public not to invest their money with unsupervised institutions and not to be carried away by the high interest rates they were offering. Also, more recently when some foreign companies introduced Pyramid Schemes to Sri Lanka and were capturing local investors through aggressive marketing once again the Central Bank did their job as the regulator and warned the public against such Pyramid Schemes. The Central Bank even went further and got the Banking Act amended to outlaw Pyramid Schemes from operating in Sri Lanka. This is how State appointed Regulators should act. Another state institutions that deserves a bouquet from the National Consumer Watch is the Customs Department for the very positive media advertisements they are now inserting to draw public attention to prevent customs offencers such as smuggling of drugs, cigarettes, foreign currencies, fauna and flora or articles of archaelogical value. They have provided a hotline (2741471) and are also offering Cash Rewards. This is the correct way to go about their job and we congratulate the customs on this endeavour. In the same vein, we are happy that this newspaper (Sunday Observer) is commencing a Media Watch and will be devoting a full page once a moth where the public can freely express their views, grievances or complaints about the functioning of the media. It is in the context of the above plaudits that we make an appeal to the Consumer Affairs Authority to be more proactive. Under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act every type of "service" and every type of trader/businessman/professional is covered. The statute is very comprehensive. What we all now need is the effective implementation of the powers and duties given by the legislation to the Authority. Here we also thank the Associated Newspapers for publicising the statute. For public information both the Sunday Observer and the Daily News carries several insertions quoting the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003 and asking traders "to price mark their products when they advertise". In next week's column, we will outline and discuss the Ombudsman schemes operating in Sri Lanka and how they help consumers. Readers are invited to send in their comments to the National Consumer
Watch No. 143 A, Vajira Road, Colombo 5. |
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