Editorial
Protecting consumer rights
Implementation of law is key
World Consumer Rights Day passed off Wednesday without any appraisal of where we stand in terms of implementing Consumer Rights Protection Law, 2009. All that Commerce Minister Faruk Khan could promise is that the government would amend the 2009 law in order to make it more effective. Obviously, the law is flawed in many ways as it is weighted towards the sellers rather than to the buyers, let alone the non-deterrent penalties prescribed in it. Besides, the whole spectrum of goods, services and utilities that the consumers have use for, have not been covered by the law. Still, whatever has been provided remains confined to paper and not yet applied.
One of the major shortcomings lie in the National Consumers' Rights Protection Directorate (NCRPD) being acutely short of manpower. It cannot afford to be a centrally controlled affair, there will have to be district and upazila offices to respond to consumers' complaints against being cheated in weights, measures, contents, expiry dates, and, above all, overpricing. There has been talk of separate courts for disposing of disputes relating to denial of consumer rights with attendant remedies, relief, compensation and penalties extracted from the offenders.
Part of the problem is in consumers not coming forward to demand justice. Basically, therefore, we need to concentrate on building awareness among the citizens of their rights to protection as consumers, legal remedies available to them and how they go about obtaining results from the system.
Merely giving more teeth to law is no guarantee for saving the consumers from the onslaught of food adulteration, spurious drugs, short-weight deliveries and overcharges. On the contrary, it can fuel corruption.
It is, however, a good idea to include financial services under the protective umbrella. But no matter how inclusive the law is, it has to be underpinned by a fair competition policy and a structure for surveillance and law enforcement that are free from corrupting influence of any vested interest.
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