Barrister Tureen Afroz

MARCH 15, 2002 was celebrated world wide as the 20th anniversary of the World Consumer Rights Day. The day was celebrated on the 15th March, 1983 for the first time in the world history. However, it does not mean that the concept of protecting consumer rights is a new one. Rather since the dawn of human civilization, the ordinary citizens of every society have always been consciously trying to protect their rights as consumers, though its scope might have only been limited to prevent unusual price hikes of essential items of the daily life.

With the advent of the 20th century, the issue of consumer rights protection has started getting importance in different countries of the world. The Western countries became very much interested in enacting relevant laws to protect their consumer rights and played the pioneer role in creating the awareness. The rights of consumers got the international recognition when the United Nations promulgated the basic guidelines regarding consumer rights protection. By the end of the 20th century, the issue of consumer rights protection became almost like a movement all over the world.

There are 8 basic rights of the consumers. These basic rights are internationally recognized and have been approved by the United Nations. These are:

the right to satisfaction of basic needs;

the right to safety;

the right to be informed;

the right to choose;

the right to be heard;

the right to redress;

the right to consumer education; and

the right to a healthy environment.

However, with more and more awareness regarding consumer rights, there has been increasing demand to include many specific rights as consumer rights in addition to the above mentioned basic rights of the consumers. A few of them include consumer rights in the banking and information technology sector, consumer rights to demand answerability from the large corporations or consumer right to poverty alleviation. In this era of globalization, there is also now demand for framing "Corporate Code of Conduct" for the large corporate organizations.

To formulate a ideal framework for consumer rights protection, one needs to address three very essential elements of such protection:

enactment of consumer legislation and regulations;

consumer empowerment via imparting required education and information; and

consumer representation in the national as well as international decision making process.

The social position of the consumers in Bangladesh is very much vulnerable here. The consumers are deprived of their rights at every sphere of their lives. The country has got a few very old-fashioned legislations, which are neither sufficient nor strictly enforced for the protection of the rights of the general consumers. These include, Control of Essential Commodities Act 1956, Pure Food Ordinance 1959, Standard of Weights and Measures Ordinance 1982, Drug Control Ordinance 1981 and 1982, Breast Milk Substitutes (Regulation of Marketing) Ordinance 1984 and 1989, Standard and Testing Institution Ordinance 1985 and 1988.

However, such statutory protections are not comprehensive and thus, fail to meet the contemporary requirements of the consumers. As a result, the general consumers of Bangladesh cannot take proper legal action against the fraudulent and unfair trade practices of the unscrupulous businessmen and traders. Similarly, the issue of "consumer empowerment" is equally ignored both at the level of government as well as that of the private sector.

Also, the consumers of Bangladesh lack proper education about their rights as consumers and they very often than not are deprived of receiving the correct information regarding products and services. In addition, there is a total absence of consumer representation in the process of decision-making.

Now, there are three aspects of consumer rights protection, which every country must consider. They are:

Institutional Protection:- when national institutions are established to safeguard and promote consumer rights of their citizens. For example, in 1914 the Federal Trade Commission, in 1927 the Food and Drug Administration and in 1970 the National High Traffic Administration were set up in the USA; the United Kingdom established the office of Director-General of Fair Trading; Sweden set up the Consumer Agency KOV and Consumer Ombudsman KO, India established National Consumer Protection Council, various State Consumer Protection Councils, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission with State Commissions and District Forums; Pakistan set up the Islamabad Consumer Protection Council; Sri Lanka and Nepal set up the office of the Commissioner of Internal Trade and the Consumer Protection Council respectively.

Statutory Protection:- when relevant laws are enacted to protect the rights and interests of the consumers. Many countries of the world, including those in Asia have already enacted comprehensive laws in this regard, such as, the Consumer Protection Fundamental Act 1968 in Japan, Consumer Protection Act 1979 in both Thailand and Sri Lanka, Consumer Protection Act 1986 in India, Consumer Act of Philippines 1990, Islamabad Consumers protection Act 1995 in Pakistan, Consumer protection Act 1998 in Nepal and The Law on Consumer Protection 1999 in Indonesia and Consumer Protection Act 1999 in Malaysia were enacted.

Voluntary Protection:- when consumers themselves voluntarily set up associations and/or organizations to safeguard their own rights and interests. These associations/organizations generally work as pressure groups on the government on consumer rights issues. There are many such voluntary organizations in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries of the world. In Bangladesh, the Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) was established in 1978. With the relentless effort of CAB since 1994, a draft Consumer Protection Act for Bangladesh was formulated in 1998 by the Ministry of Commerce in consultation with CAB and other relevant ministries, Departments and agencies of the Government of Bangladesh. During 1999, CAB arranged a series of seminars and workshops where people from different corners of the society actively participated to suggest necessary changes in the draft act so prepared. In February 2000, the Ministry of Commerce sent the draft Act (with necessary amendment suggestions) to the Law Reform Commission to do necessary research on it. On the 29th October, 2000 the Law Reform Commission published a report on the draft act. Finally the draft Act got the preliminary approval at the cabinet but was again sent to the Secretarial Committee meeting for further security. This is so far the current status of the Consumer Protection Act of Bangladesh.

The draft Consumer Protection Act of Bangladesh is very much similar to that of India and Sri Lanka. The draft act is organized into four parts with 32 sections in total. The purpose of the act is stated as:

to protect the interests of the consumers;

to set standards in business; and to establish necessary institutions for satisfying the above mentioned purposes and for the settlement of consumer disputes.

According to the draft Act, a National Consumer Protection Council will be established in Bangladesh. The objects of such council shall be to promote and protect the rights of the Consumers such as the right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property; the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods and services so as to protect the Consumer against unfair trade practices; the right to be assured of the access to a variety of goods and services at competitive price; the right to be heard and to be assured that consumers' interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums; the right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices/restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers; and the right to Consumer education.

In addition to the above-mentioned council, there will be established at least one District Consumer Court in each district of Bangladesh and one National Consumer Court for the whole Bangladesh to deal with Consumer disputes. The District Consumer Courts shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any, claimed does not exceed 25 lac taka. Such amount, if exceeds 25 lac taka, shall be a matter for the National Consumer Court. Appeal against the orders of any District Consumer Court shall lie with the National Consumer Court and appeal against the orders of the National Consumer Court shall lie with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

The most striking part of the draft Act is that a complaint in relation to any goods sold or delivered or agreed to be sold or delivered or any service provided or agreed to be provided, may be filed not only by the concerned consumer(s) or the government but also by any recognized consumers association. For that matter, it is not necessary that the concerned consumer(s) be a member(s) of such consumer association.

The draft Act gives quite a lot of power to the District Consumer Courts and the National Consumer Court. If such courts find any complaint to be true, they have the power to issue order directing the relevant party/parties to do one or more of the following things, namely-

to remove the defect from the goods or services in question; to replace the goods with new goods of similar description, free from any defect; to return the price/charges paid for the defective product/services; to pay compensation for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to negligence of the apposite party; to discontinue with unfair trade practice or the restrictive trade practice; not to offer the hazardous goods for sale; to withdraw the hazardous goods from being offered for sale; and to provide for adequate costs to parties.

There are two very important issues, which are absent in the draft Consumer Protection Act of Bangladesh. They are-

There is no power given to either District Consumer Courts or to the National Consumer Court to issue an "interim order" regarding the sale or withdrawal of hazardous goods from the market. The total complaint procedure would take months or years to settle the issue, but in the meantime the consumers might suffer irreparable loss unless such interim order is passed by the Consumer Courts in appropriate cases.

There is no provision of constituting and maintaining a "Consumer Protection Fund" for protecting and promoting consumer rights in Bangladesh. By an amendment in 1980, provisions for such fund were incorporated into the Sri Lankan Consumer Protection Act 1979. In Sri Lanka, the sources of such "Consumer Protection Fund" generally come from fines procured by the consumer courts for offences under the Act, profits from sale of goods forfeited under the Act, grants and donations, and finally from the budget sanctioned by the parliament for protection of consumer rights. In Bangladesh, similar provision for "Consumer Protection Fund" can be incorporated into the Act. In conclusion, the innocent consumers of Bangladesh are in crucial need of having the protection of a comprehensive consumer protection legislation. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh must enact a comprehensive Consumer Protection Act as soon as possible and further strictly ensure the effective implementation of such legislation. We should always remember that an effective consumer protection legislation of a nation not only protects and promotes the rights and interests of its consumers, but it also enhances certain socio-economic targets of its macro economy, such as poverty alleviation, efficient, fair and transparent market mechanism, good governance and above all, socio-economic justice for its citizens.

MARCH 15, 2002 Published at Daily Star, Dhaka

Tureen Afroz, Barrister-at-Law, is currently a Ph.D. student at Monash University, Australia.