This week I was really struggling to get a topic to write
about for Consumer Court. It felt to me that everything I have written till
thus far about consumer issues was falling on deaf ears. That was until I was
stopped on the street by a person I have never met before. The man was driving
past me and waved to me, then pulled over, reversed and rolled down his window
to talk with me. The first thing he said was, “Thank you for the great job you
are doing”. I immediately thought he was referring to the organisation where I
work as I was wearing a corporate branded golf shirt. “No”, he continued, “I
mean the work you are doing with your weekly consumer column in the newspaper.”
It turns out he has been an avid follower of my articles
since I started writing in 2011 and had even used some of the advice to his own
monetary advantage. My day was made. I once again felt that through this
opportunity of the consumer court column, a difference was being made. So,
please next time you get good or excellent service please tell the person or
organisation that you appreciate their effort to make you a happy customer.
During my conversation with this stranger, we also touched
upon the Consumer Protection Act and what the Ministry of Trade and Industry
hopes to achieve with this legislation.
What is consumer protection?
Consumer protection refers to all the laws (and the
organisations tasked with consumer issues) that are made to ensure that the
rights of consumers as well as fair trade, competition and accurate information
about products and services is made available to consumers. The main purpose of
such laws is to prevent business that engage in fraud or specified unfair
practices from getting an advantage over their competitors. They often also
include additional protection measures for the most vulnerable members of
society. The laws also spell out the consumer complaint procedures that
business must follow as well as the punishment they can expect if they do not
adhere to these laws. Consumer protection covers a wide range of topics,
including but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy rights,
unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and other
consumer/business interactions.
The Consumer Protection Act (which is the current process that
the Ministry is involved in), will probably include the following provisions:
·
It will promote a fair, accessible and
sustainable market place for consumer products and services;
·
Establish national norms and standards to ensure
adequate consumer protection;
·
Give guidelines for improved standards of
consumer information that will prohibit unfair marketing or other unfair
business practices;
·
Encourage responsible consumer behaviour; and
·
Establish the National Consumer Commission
The law will also define which
other bodies (such as the Competition Commission, NAMFISA, Bank of Namibia) are
tasked with specific areas that will not be covered by consumer issues in this
law.
It is hoped that the Competition
Act will also look at how consumer are represented and how the government will
assist these consumer representative bodies (financially, technically, etc.).
I would also like to see that the
Namibian law includes a provision for a small claims court that will allow
consumers and business with civil issues (differences on who owes whom money),
to be able to have legal rulings without the present prohibitive cost that
involves legal professionals.
As a consumer activist I must add
that I hope the Ministry follows through with this important process and we see
this act before the end of 2015.
