Consumers' rights protection: New weapon in government's armoury
Monday, 20 April 2009
Shamsul Huq Zahid
The national parliament on the first day of the current month passed the much awaited Consumers' Rights Protection Act 2009.
Though it is yet to be seen how the provisions of the new law are enforced to protect the consumers from whims and fraudulent activities of a section of unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers of goods and services, the consumers would surely be happy to see the adoption of the law.
Attempts have been made in the new act to discourage activities detrimental to the interests of the consumers through the inclusion of necessary punitive measures.
In the law, the production and sale of adulterated and counterfeit products and cheating in weighing goods have been made punishable offences. The wrongdoers would be subjected to prison sentences ranging between one year and three years and pay a maximum fine of Tk 0.2 million. Besides, anyone found selling date-expired drugs or any other products will have to pay a fine of Tk 50,000 or suffer a maximum prison sentence of one year or both.
The law also provides for the creation of an entity, styled, the National Consumers' Rights Protection Council and the Directorate of Consumers' Rights Protection. The head of the directorate or any of its officials empowered so will have the power to investigate any crime committed under the new law and issue warrants of arrest. The national level council which will have representations from different sectors will be headed by the commerce minister. Also there will be consumers' rights protection committees at the district level with the deputy commissioners at their helm.
Most of the provisions of the new law would surely make the consumers, who have suffered much in the hands of dishonest manufacturers and traders for decades after decades, happy.
But can a tough law alone be the only safeguard for the millions of consumers who do not have the power to do anything unless and until the government plunges into action on their behalf?
In the recent past, there were tough official actions against the adulterators of food items in Dhaka city under the leadership of one or two magistrates, who took it up as a mission, not just an official responsibility. Many producers of fake goods and sellers of adulterated food items had to pay fines in fat amounts or suffer prison sentences. However, those were, more or less, on again and off again type of actions on the part of the administration. Moreover, such limited actions in some specific areas of the country could hardly produce any major impact on the evil acts of adulteration or counterfeiting of goods.
For the past few months, there has been no drive against the producers and sellers of fake and adulterated items in the market. In the absence of uninterrupted move on the part of the government, the wrongdoers have staged a comeback. The consumers, actually, until now are left with no option other than buying or consuming goods of suspected quality. They have to depend on their luck. For, the food they consume day in, day out may or may not be pure.
Now the question is: Will there by any qualitative change in the situation after the passage of the Consumers' Rights Protection Act? That is actually a million dollar question because of the fact that enforcement of laws, particularly the ones meant to protect rights of the people and ensure their welfare, has been very poor. Laws are used more frequently to harass the innocent and, in many cases, abused by the mighty and influential people in politics and society. That has actually been the rule of the game in this country.
The law provides for the creation of a directorate for enforcement of its various provisions. Laws are made by the parliament under democratic system of governance. But it is the responsibility of the government officials and members of the law enforcement agencies to enforce the same.
So, effectiveness of the law related to the welfare of the consumers would largely depend on the will and ability of the people who would man the directorate. The consumers would get some results out of the new law if the officials of the proposed directorate mean business and are serious enough to punish the producers of fake goods and adulterated food items.
However, in many cases, government agencies are found to concentrate their activities mainly in Dhaka where the most vocal section of the population live. For these agencies, areas other than the capital do not exist. Take the case of the official drive, initiated from time to time, against adulteration of food items. The campaign against adulteration remained confined only in Dhaka city despite the fact the situation is worse in other district towns and rural areas. One reason behind limited operation of the anti-adulteration drive has been the non-availability of adequate number of magistrates.
So, the manpower strength and network of the proposed directorate will be very important issues as far as the enforcement of the CRPA is concerned. Besides, the issue of detecting adulteration and impurities in food, drugs and other consumers' items needs to be resolved. The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) lacks in the required manpower to conduct tests for others. So, if the directorate has to remain dependent on some other agencies to get samples of suspected items tested, it might face problems in carrying out its day-to-day operations.
Therefore, the proposed directorate must have a countrywide network and a testing laboratory of its own. The authorities concerned do need to look at these issues seriously before framing rules and regulations under the new law.
However, laws alone will not be able to protect the consumers from the greedy manufacturers and sellers of adulterated and fake goods. Consumers need to be more organized and more vocal against the misdeeds of the unscrupulous manufacturers and traders and the government should just follow it up using the new weapon in its armoury--- the CRPA.
The national parliament on the first day of the current month passed the much awaited Consumers' Rights Protection Act 2009.
Though it is yet to be seen how the provisions of the new law are enforced to protect the consumers from whims and fraudulent activities of a section of unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers of goods and services, the consumers would surely be happy to see the adoption of the law.
Attempts have been made in the new act to discourage activities detrimental to the interests of the consumers through the inclusion of necessary punitive measures.
In the law, the production and sale of adulterated and counterfeit products and cheating in weighing goods have been made punishable offences. The wrongdoers would be subjected to prison sentences ranging between one year and three years and pay a maximum fine of Tk 0.2 million. Besides, anyone found selling date-expired drugs or any other products will have to pay a fine of Tk 50,000 or suffer a maximum prison sentence of one year or both.
The law also provides for the creation of an entity, styled, the National Consumers' Rights Protection Council and the Directorate of Consumers' Rights Protection. The head of the directorate or any of its officials empowered so will have the power to investigate any crime committed under the new law and issue warrants of arrest. The national level council which will have representations from different sectors will be headed by the commerce minister. Also there will be consumers' rights protection committees at the district level with the deputy commissioners at their helm.
Most of the provisions of the new law would surely make the consumers, who have suffered much in the hands of dishonest manufacturers and traders for decades after decades, happy.
But can a tough law alone be the only safeguard for the millions of consumers who do not have the power to do anything unless and until the government plunges into action on their behalf?
In the recent past, there were tough official actions against the adulterators of food items in Dhaka city under the leadership of one or two magistrates, who took it up as a mission, not just an official responsibility. Many producers of fake goods and sellers of adulterated food items had to pay fines in fat amounts or suffer prison sentences. However, those were, more or less, on again and off again type of actions on the part of the administration. Moreover, such limited actions in some specific areas of the country could hardly produce any major impact on the evil acts of adulteration or counterfeiting of goods.
For the past few months, there has been no drive against the producers and sellers of fake and adulterated items in the market. In the absence of uninterrupted move on the part of the government, the wrongdoers have staged a comeback. The consumers, actually, until now are left with no option other than buying or consuming goods of suspected quality. They have to depend on their luck. For, the food they consume day in, day out may or may not be pure.
Now the question is: Will there by any qualitative change in the situation after the passage of the Consumers' Rights Protection Act? That is actually a million dollar question because of the fact that enforcement of laws, particularly the ones meant to protect rights of the people and ensure their welfare, has been very poor. Laws are used more frequently to harass the innocent and, in many cases, abused by the mighty and influential people in politics and society. That has actually been the rule of the game in this country.
The law provides for the creation of a directorate for enforcement of its various provisions. Laws are made by the parliament under democratic system of governance. But it is the responsibility of the government officials and members of the law enforcement agencies to enforce the same.
So, effectiveness of the law related to the welfare of the consumers would largely depend on the will and ability of the people who would man the directorate. The consumers would get some results out of the new law if the officials of the proposed directorate mean business and are serious enough to punish the producers of fake goods and adulterated food items.
However, in many cases, government agencies are found to concentrate their activities mainly in Dhaka where the most vocal section of the population live. For these agencies, areas other than the capital do not exist. Take the case of the official drive, initiated from time to time, against adulteration of food items. The campaign against adulteration remained confined only in Dhaka city despite the fact the situation is worse in other district towns and rural areas. One reason behind limited operation of the anti-adulteration drive has been the non-availability of adequate number of magistrates.
So, the manpower strength and network of the proposed directorate will be very important issues as far as the enforcement of the CRPA is concerned. Besides, the issue of detecting adulteration and impurities in food, drugs and other consumers' items needs to be resolved. The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) lacks in the required manpower to conduct tests for others. So, if the directorate has to remain dependent on some other agencies to get samples of suspected items tested, it might face problems in carrying out its day-to-day operations.
Therefore, the proposed directorate must have a countrywide network and a testing laboratory of its own. The authorities concerned do need to look at these issues seriously before framing rules and regulations under the new law.
However, laws alone will not be able to protect the consumers from the greedy manufacturers and sellers of adulterated and fake goods. Consumers need to be more organized and more vocal against the misdeeds of the unscrupulous manufacturers and traders and the government should just follow it up using the new weapon in its armoury--- the CRPA.