NEW LEGISLATION to increase consumer protection has been drafted to be passed next year.
Angella Manning, Executive Director of the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), said that the Consumer Protection Bill would be broad based, covering among other things, "issues pertaining to redress and sufficient fines... where the consumer suffered various breaches."
She added that the Bill would also enable the Commission to take offenders before the courts. "It is a very important piece of legislation. We received comments from the Attorney-General's Department, (and) other consumer protection agencies as well. It is now to go before the Legislative Committee of Cabinet," she said at a JIS Think Tank session at the agency's Half-Way Tree Road office in Kingston.
She said the legislation went beyond Jamaica, "because there is a CARICOM Model Law on Consumer Protection, which CARICOM is expecting all member territories to have passed."
"With the coming on stream of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which opens up the entire region into one single market, it was also recognised... that each country needed to have sufficient laws in place," she continued.
Elaborating on the notion of protection within CARICOM, the Executive Director explained that if a consumer from Jamaica went to another Caribbean country and made a purchase and upon their return home, discovers the item to be defective, they have a right to redress, notwithstanding the fact that they were in another CARICOM state.
The CAC is a Government institution whose role is to protect the interest of all consumers through public education. The agency's stated mission says it is "dedicated to leading change in the society towards a population of knowledgeable, vigilant, assertive and discriminating consumers". Apart from OUR and the FTC, the agency works in collaboration with the Bureau of Standards, the Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division and non-governmental organisations such as the National Consumers League.
In the past year, the Commission assisted consumers in obtaining cash refunds totalling over $5 million.
Speaking to the background on which the Consumer Protection Bill was drafted, the CAC head said, "when the Government of Jamaica decided to pursue a new paradigm, moving away from price controls and exchange controls, towards a free market liberalised system.. the political directorate saw that there needed to be legislative change, in line with this new direction and this new path".
Hence, she noted, the Government gave instructions for the drafting of a bill, which would offer protection to consumers in the new environment.
Presently, the CAC receives an average of 2,500 complaints annually, 90 per cent of which are resolved within the year. Mrs. Manning noted that many of the complaints were in regard to the utility companies, poor quality food, issues pertaining to refunds, rebates, credits and exchanges.
Elaborating on concerns regarding poor food quality, Mrs. Manning said, "we are seeing increases (in the)... alleged unwholesomeness of food. People are consuming items and finding foreign matter in them and are incurring medical expenses".
She noted that the Commission was finding that the initial responses of some businesspersons, was that they are not responsible - that someone else must have done something to the offending product.
She further pointed out that genetically modified foods were of particular concern to the agency.
Complaints against the utility companies, she explained, were handled at the level of the individual consumer, while the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR), dealt predominantly with the sector at the macro or broad level, in terms of regulation.
She did however indicate that the two agencies worked together, as the CAC had committed to sending utility complaints to the OUR. This, she said, would help to guide them at the policy level.
The CAC Executive Director said the organisation was also concerned about other issues such as household products, child safety, health, trade and competition issues.
As it relates to competition, Mrs. Manning said that the agency not only looked at the local competitive scene, but also at international competitiveness. She acknowledged however, that the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) has a greater interest in the area of competition, as they remain on the alert to ensure compliance with the Fair Competition Act.
