The consumer comes first, but not in Pakistan

Panellists call for govt to protect consumers, intellectual property rights.


Our Correspondent March 23, 2012

KARACHI:


The government does not have the necessary political will to enforce consumer protection laws, as Pakistani citizens continue to purchase counterfeit and adulterated goods.


This view was aired by experts at the 6th Annual National Conference on consumer rights, called “Putting the Consumer First,” which took place at a local hotel here on Thursday. While speaking on the occasion, former senator Iqbal Haider said, “With the kind of life we are living in Pakistan, it’s a miracle that our population is growing, while so much polluted food is being sold in markets.”

Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi, who was one of the panellists, said “There is no implementation of the law when there is no political will to do so.” She said that when an uneducated person goes to a pharmacy, he hopes that the chemist would give him the medicine he asked for, or a trustworthy alternative if the actual one is unavailable. However, in many cases, the chemist himself would not be properly qualified and the pharmacy would not be registered.

Consumer rights protection is a concept that’s often ignored in Pakistan, mostly because the population is simply not aware of it, said Ali Kabir Shah of Ali & Associates. “Don’t steal and don’t hide,” were two simple rules that Shah mentioned.

Intellectual property rights protection, which would cover trademarks (of brands), patents (on inventions) and copyrights (on creative or artistic works), is largely ignored in Pakistan. “Pakistan is the only country in the world where you cannot go out and buy an original DVD,” said Shah.

The assumption that counterfeit goods are beneficial for consumers is a myth, as these goods don’t last long and their quality is easily eclipsed by that of the original item.

Shah also refuted the notion that only small-time crooks are involved in counterfeiting goods. “Counterfeiting is an established business, and accounts for trade of millions of items across the world. These are not small time crooks, but major criminals.”

Shah gave the example of a Birkin bag, which was made famous by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, and copies of the original that are now available in the market.

Panellists also touched upon the sale of fake medicines all over the country, and referred to the deaths of dozens of patients in Lahore due to administration of adulterated medicines.

Haroon Qasim, former president of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, said that it is important to criticise inaccurate statements made by public figures, like Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s in which he claimed that fifty percent of all medicines available in Pakistan are either fake or adulterated. He said that this was a very high number indeed, and urged consumers to do their bit to protect their rights. This observation earned him rebuke by other panelists, who said that the responsibility of enforcing consumer protecting laws primarily lay with the government and its different agencies.

The conference concluded after suggesting the formulation of a national intellectual property policy, and called for the government and educational institutions to calculate the long-term impact of copyright violations in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2012.

COMMENTS (4)

Harry Stone | 12 years ago | Reply

One has to wonder just where does this fit on the list of all that is wrong in PAK.

Meekal Ahmed | 12 years ago | Reply

Was the CCP not invited? How can there be a "conference" without including them?

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