Consumer rights protection a far cry

Consumer rights believed to be imbedded in the basic human rights of the citizens emerged more as a functional necessity than a topic of academic discussion. In our case, unfortunately, it is the latter that appears to be the case, as of now.

The issue of consumer rights didn't seem to demand much attention in our society until recently, largely because consumers at large were not either aware that such rights do constitute an important legal stake in the marketplace or they considered unfair market practices as part of the game they could do little to correct. The situation has changed a lot over the years. The ever increasing wrongs and malpractices taking heavy toll on the consumers in all conceivable forms and manners do make a strong point for the consumers to be aware of the rights they are legitimately entitled to.

It is on this worrisome note that the Consumer Rights Protection Act got enacted in Parliament way back in 2009. Enacting the law was a good thing to start with in as much as it defined and stipulated wrongdoings in the marketplace providing for legal protection of the consumers. The scope of such law is wide-ranging in that it is not just the price and quality of products that are the key factors for intervention but it spans across the entire production and marketing process including among others devious product advertisements meant to attract buyers.

Now, although the law is in place, grown from long-pursued moves from various quarters of the civil society, it has turned out to be no more than a pious intent-rendered ineffective by the absence of appropriate mechanism to discipline the marketplace and thus safeguard consumers' interest.

It is obvious that protecting the rights of the consumers necessitates more than enacting a law. Consumer protection, in its broader sense, refers to the laws and regulations that ensure fair interaction between service providers and consumers. A consumer protection framework generally includes introduction of greater transparency and awareness about the goods and services, promotion of competition in the marketplace, prevention of fraud, education of customers, and elimination of unfair practices.

It is generally held that as consumers, citizens have certain well defined basic rights. These are-the right to basic needs, safety, information, choice, representation, redress, consumer education, and a healthy environment. Along with the rights, consumers do have some responsibilities too. These include among others awareness, social concern; environmental awareness; and solidarity. In countries where protection of consumer rights has gained reasonably strong ground, there are advocacy initiatives and programmes to strengthen consumer awareness of these rights and responsibilities and give access to information on various consumer-related laws. Such programmes frequently remind consumers to stay vigilant before making a purchase. Consumers have the right to choose the products that they need. But before purchase, consumers have the right to know about the products.

Hence, to bring these into practice in a visible manner, the only instrument the government has to resort to is a well designed and efficient institutional mechanism. Unfortunately, after lapse of more than a decade since the passage of the law, there is no effective mechanism to take care of the rights and interests of the consumers in the country. This is not to say that there has not been any institutional set-up as yet. The government has set up the Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection in line with the key provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Act (CRPA) 2009. But as most observers will agree, setting up of the directorate has, till date, made no impression on the situation of consumer rights in the country. Newspaper reports say that the function of the organisation, since its inception, is mostly confined to receiving complaints. The CRPA that led to the creation of the directorate has not clearly spelt out the precise areas it is to address and how. This, experts opine, has bestowed an indistinct administrative role upon the directorate. The directorate is also not adequately empowered to direct specific state agencies to carry out activities as and when necessary, nor has it been given sufficient institutional capacity to develop specialised manpower for market monitoring and supervision.

Given the prevailing indiscipline and gross violation of even the basics of fair business operations in many fields, there can be no denying that at present consumer rights situation in Bangladesh is appallingly shocking than perhaps it ever was.  The voice of the consumer as a stakeholder in the market is too feeble to be heard. Consumers have no choice but to buy fake, poor quality goods ranging from vegetables sprayed with pesticides, cosmetics containing toxic chemicals and counterfeit or date expired drugs with no medicinal value. Coupled with this is the endemic problem of formalin in fruits and vegetables.

All these are pretty well known. In order for the authorities to make things happen in curbing violation or infringement of consumer rights, there is the an urgent need to take up action plans as well as arrange for required manpower, logistics and enforcement mechanism for implementation of the law.

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