Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Nasir Uddin :
The much orchestrated social movement like consumerism has recently cropped up as the voice of the consumers with numerous think tanks holding mass rallies and arranging seminars and symposium. This is to project the predicaments of the consumers growing out of distortion and malfunctioning of markets. The Consumer Association of Bangladesh has organised such movement through policy advocacy. This is in relation to the movement at the global level. There were four globally recognised rights of the consumers: the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, and the right to be hard. Later on four more rights were recognised as contained in UN guidelines for consumer’s protection: ‘the right to protection against exploitation by unfair trade practices, the right to protection of health and safety from the goods and services the consumers buy or are offered free, the right to get the grievances redressed and the right to physical environment’. Article 15, 18 and 32 of the constitution provided for consumer’s protection. Besides there are legal measures and additional legislations to protect consumer’s rights.
Consumer’s rights have long been the central stage in right-focused activities in the contemporary phase of world development. Institutional concerns about good governance featuring prominently in development dialogue cannot sidetrack the overriding issue like the protection of consumer’s rights. The members of the vibrant civil societies are instrumental in spearheading social movement with emphasis on consumer’s rights. As activists of a more citizen oriented form of association they have spread nationwide over culturally varied communities to promote mass awareness about any harmful processes that continue to undermine human rights.
In Bangladesh the consumers have long been living in the state of uncertainties The deluge of criminalisation in commercial activities tend to batter the lives of the consumers who are hypothetically conceived as the target beneficiaries of public policies.
Many a fraud practice unnoticed by the public authorities militates against their safety and security. The gullible consumers have become onlookers in an adverse situation facing the music in the notorious manipulation of markets by the unscrupulous traders with deception and snobbery. The blissful slumber of the concerned authority adds to their strength –all to the disenchantment of the ordinary masses.
CAB took a great initiative to prepare a draft of consumer protection law. The immediate past CTG approved in principle the consumer protection ordinance, 2007. The present government goes further. The 1st session of the ninth parliament has passed Consumer Protection Law on 1st April 2009.
It appears that for the first time in Bangladesh consumer right protection finds proper institutional position with the blessings of law.
There are punitive measures to prevent adulteration, fraud practices, production and sale of spurious and harmful commodities, sale of unexpired medicine and food items, any misleading advertisement to hoodwink the buyers, rigging in weight, and using fictitious weight to deceive the buyers. New legislation makes it mandatory to clearly indicate net weight sealed on the packet including the date of production and expiry. There is a clear mention of the display of price list in every grocery and shop.
However, for implementing this law we must think of public service as well as institutional capacity. Thing is that more important is how laws are implemented than how they are made-efficient management of implementation. Presumably there are indications of the possible ways of implementing consumer protection law.
For follow up action consumer right protection council or directorate be formed with DC or any officer in charge having the authority like thana OC to investigate crime under the law. Another highlight of the law is the formation of national council for the protection of consumer right headed by commerce minister (ex-officio). It consists of 29 members.
What we need for ensuring implementation is horizontal and vertical expansion of CAB. There must be the offices of CAB in every important city points and rural-local points with citizen complaint box. Make sure a consumer gets legal support from these offices. CAB is in fact the symbol of consumer’s voice ventilating public grievances and ensuring public participation. It should be strengthened with the provision of good governance involving stakeholders in various communities. There should be consumers’ co-operative shops in every housing society with the support of CAB.
Institutional laws guiding executive actions needs to be upgraded to fulfill the expectations of the consumers in modern information age. In every consumer council or directorate in the district chaired by the DC (ex-officio) there should be an arrangement for citizen charter with modern infrastructures and training facilities for capacity building.
It should have surveillance team to facilitate regular monitoring. Mobile court should be empowered with the power to punish the unscrupulous traders who violate the law and see that uniformity is maintained in the retail market shops so far as prices of the essentials are concerned.
The institutions as mentioned in the law must think it incumbent upon them to promote consumer movement and consumerism by imparting consumer education to the citizens. They should monitor all modern services in public and private sectors based on electronic governance including transport and communication, telecommunication, house building and financial institution providing credit card and ATM facilities.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor, Department of Public Administration, Chittagong University, and Nasir Uddin, Lecturer of Department of Public Administration, Chittagong University)
