Consumer Rights Day: Govt mulls consumer courts, council for capital

Buyers more vulnerable to exploitative forces due to absence of relevant laws

ISLAMABAD: To protect the rights of consumers, the government is mulling plans to set up separate consumer courts and a consumer protection council in the federal capital.

This was disclosed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law Barrister Zafarullah Khan while addressing the National Consumer Rights Conference held in Islamabad on Thursday to mark World Consumer Rights Day. The conference had been organised by the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP). Zafarullah, while publicly committing to expedite the process of setting up separate consumer courts in the capital, said that the government would ensure the provision of a fair and just consumer protection regime.

Experts and professionals delivered presentations on consumer rights during the national conference.



CRCP Secretary General Abrar Hafeez said that the rapid growth and adoption of the internet and mobile phones have created opportunities as well as challenges for millions of consumers.

He said it was quite unfortunate that consumers were in a disadvantaged position when procuring online.

“The state and the market interact, but consumer rights are not being heard,” he said, adding that consumer rights, which protect consumers from any kind of fraud or inequity, were completely absent from political manifestos of all political parties in Pakistan.

Another speaker observed that consumers were more vulnerable to exploitative forces because, in the absence of a comprehensive legal arrangement, they cannot find any appropriate forum to get their consumer specific problems addressed.



Talking about the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) and the related law, PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal said that efforts were underway to establish a law for tackling the issue of misleading advertisements and deceptive marketing practices in the capital which would put a stop to the exploitation of consumers.

He also emphasised the need to subject advertisements to approvals from the PFA before they are displayed publicly. The proposed move, he explained, would ensure that the quality of the food being sold is in line with the law and set standards.

Planning Commission Member on Governance, Innovation and Reforms Dr Safdar Sohail highlighted that, in terms of decision making, legislators have not taken much interest in policy making and consumer welfare in the auto-sector. In this case, he said, the market is dominating the state to have better margins to succeed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2018.