THURSDAY-6TH DECEMBER 2007-FORM SEPARATE MINISTRY TO PROTECT CONSUMER RIGHTS:PATRICK

Form separate ministry to protect consumer rights: Patrick
KOTA KINABALU:
The Consumer Association for Sabah and Labuan (Cash) has proposed that the task of protecting consumer rights and regulating domestic trade currently placed under the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, should be separated and over seen by two different ministries.Its president, Datuk Patrick Sindu, said protecting consumer rights and promoting trade is often contradicting each other and the ministry, being tasked with both responsibilities at the same time, could lead to indecisiveness and tendency to look for mediocre solutions that have less negative effect for either side. The ministry has been doing a good job in protecting consumers all this while but consumerism today covers a tremendously vast spectrum and issues related to protection of consumer rights are rapidly increasing in complexity, said Patrick “In order to better protect consumer rights, a separate ministry dedicated solely to overseeing the consumerism aspect should be formed,” Patrick said yesterday, adding a special department responsible for enforcing laws related to consumerism should be formed under the proposed ministry.
He suggested a Minister in the Prime Ministers Department be appointed to head this ministry whose main objectives include to aggressively promote consumerism awareness and protect consumer rights. In welcoming the ban on scratch- and-win contests, Patrick said the move had been long awaited and should have been imposed’ much earlier. He said Cash had received many reports from consumers, including from professionals who have been deceived by companies using the scratch-and-win tactic. “This should have come earlier. But it is better late than never. Many had fallen victim to this scheme,” he said, adding the ministry should take similar approach on other trade gimmicks such as get-rich-quick schemes and lucky draws which he said were still being widely used by irresponsible parties to trick consumers. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal announced the ban on scratch-and- win contests on Tuesday, saying the trade gimmick, which has spread to the rural areas, was banned because it was harmful to consumers, many of whom had been tricked into buying substandard goods.