Consumer Protection Act to be amended

by Anura Maitipe

The Consumer Protection Act which was drafted in 2003 will be amended. A new draft will be presented to Parliament shortly, Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs Bandula Gunawardena told the 'Sunday Observer' .

This decision was taken by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake following discussions with Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry Officials at Temple Trees yesterday.

The authorities have pointed out various lapses in the existing Act which has resulted in sudden increase in the prices of essential commodities by certain companies.

The amended Act will give more powers to the Authority to prevent sudden price hikes of essential items by companies that monopolise the market, he said.

Prime Minister Wickramanayake has pointed out, in 1970 the country produced 85 percent of essential food items such as rice, chillies, onions, green gram and milk food and, now it is reduced to 32 percent. This has resulted in spending over Rs. 100 billion annually by the government to import these commodities.

He has stressed the need to launch a five-year plan to reduce the import quantity of these food items and to save valuable foreign currency and better the livelihood of local farmers.