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March 14, 2004

World Consumer Rights Day

Where do we stand?

Barrister Tureen Afroz

Tomorrow, 15 March, the world will observe the 21st anniversary of the World Consumer Rights Day. This day was celebrated in 1983 for the first time in the world history. World Consumer Rights Day is an annual occasion to celebrate and express solidarity towards international consumer movement. This day is observed with a view to (a) promoting the basic rights of all consumers; (b) demanding that those rights are respected and protected; and (c) protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them. However, it does not mean that the concept of protecting consumer rights came only with formally observing the World Consumer Rights Day. Rather since the dawn of human civilisation, 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 gained importance in different countries of the world. The Western countries played the pioneer role in creating the awareness and in enacting various kinds of consumer protection laws. The rights of consumers got the international recognition when in 1985 the United Nations (UN) promulgated the basic guidelines regarding consumer rights protection. The UN guidelines quoted that "all citizens, regardless of their incomes or social standing, have basic rights as consumers". By the end of the 20th century, the issue of consumer rights protection became almost like a movement all over the world. Nevertheless, the rights of consumers continue to be denied or violated by governments, producers and various powerful corners of the society. World Consumer Rights Day draws attention to such violations and provides a 'platform' for consumers, individually and jointly, to address them in the countries where they live in.

World Consumer Rights Day has its origin in former US President John F. Kennedy's declaration, made on 15 March, 1962. The declaration tried to initiate a worldwide movement to protect the rights of the consumers in a more comprehensive way. The declaration at that time outlined only four basic consumer rights: (1) the right to safety; (2) the right to be informed; (3) the right to choose; and (4) the right to be heard. Worldwide consumer movement led by Consumers International (CI), a global federation of over 250 consumer organizations, added four more rights: (5) the right to satisfaction of basic needs; (6) the right to redress; (7) the right to education; (8) the right to a healthy environment. Together these eight rights form the basis for current consumers' movement worldwide.

It must be mentioned that 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 rights to poverty alleviation. In this era of globalisation, there is also now demand for framing "Corporate Code of Conduct" for the large corporate organisations.

Every year, to celebrate the World Consumer Rights Day, a theme is selected under the leadership of Consumers International. The theme for celebrating the World Consumer Rights Day in 2004 is: "Water is a consumer right". This theme is in recognition of a growing grassroots level movement to defend water as a 'public good and inalienable human right'. There have been so far 10 formal UN declarations on the 'right to water' since 1990. The UN General Comment on the Right to Water, incorporated into the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2002, states that "water should be treated as a social and cultural good, and not primarily as an economic commodity". In other words, water should be valued as a 'community asset' to be protected from capture by economic elites. Inspired by such spirit, this year's World Consumer Rights Day will be observed with a view to demanding water sector reforms from the vantage point of consumer protection. Therefore, this year's theme would specifically advocate water as a consumer right.

Having said so, it is sadly expressed that even after so many years of progress in worldwide consumer rights movement, the rights of consumers in Bangladesh depicts a disappointing picture to the world. The current legal protection to the consumers in Bangladesh is inadequate and outdated. Bangladesh does not still have any specific umbrella organisation or institution exclusively designated to comprehensively safeguard and promote consumer rights within the country. The country is yet to enact a comprehensive Consumer Protection Act. There is, however, a voluntary organisation established in 1978, namely Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) which has been somewhat active in advocating the rights of consumers in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, CAB suffers from lack of financial resources and patronisation, which further limits its scope of activities.

In the circumstances, the only hope for the consumers in Bangladesh has been a long-due draft Consumer Protection Act. In Bangladesh, 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 a Consumer Protection Act was formulated in 1998. In February 2000, the Ministry of Commerce sent the draft Act (with suggestion for some amendments to the initial draft) 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. The draft Act got the preliminary approval at the cabinet but was again sent to the Secretarial Committee meeting for further scrutiny. Very recently the draft Consumer Protection Act has almost been finalised in a meeting under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Commerce and will again be sent to the Cabinet for final approval.

It is unfortunate that when other neighboring developing countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and many others have already enacted comprehensive consumer protection legislation in their respective countries, consumers in Bangladesh are being deprived of even their basic rights as consumers. More unfortunate is to note that matters relating to consumer protection have neither been a priority in the governmental agenda nor an issue of serious concern in the political manifesto of any of the political parties of the country so far. I really doubt whether the government or the opposition ever realises that we, the consumers of Bangladesh, are in crucial need of having the protection of comprehensive consumer protection legislation. Undoubtedly, Consumer Protection Act, if enacted, will touch upon the life of every single citizen of this country and no other matter can be of more importance than protecting the life and living of the total population of Bangladesh. Paradoxically, our national leaders even forget that they also form the members of the vulnerable consumer society of the country. I question : How long will they take to realise the need of enacting a consumer protection legislation? I wonder whether such snail-pace movement of the draft Consumer Protection Act will ever see the day light in near future!

I, on behalf of the consumers of this country, make an appeal on the World Consumer Rights Day to our national leaders : Move fast and enact the Consumer Protection Act immediately, if possible, by today as we never know whether it will be too late for tomorrow.

Barrister Tureen Afroz is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She is currently doing her PhD in Law at Monash University, Australia.