Financial Times

Coalition of consumer associations formed
The formation of a coalition of associations working on consumer rights and protection issues was the outcome of a conference on consumer rights organised in Colombo last week.

Sponsored by Colombo's Goethe Institute in collaboration with the Federation of Consumer Associations of Sri Lanka (FOCAS), the meeting - which drew participants from a broad range of consumer rights groups - also saw an interesting presentation on the Indian experience on consumer issues.

Bharath Jairaj of the Chennai-based Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) spoke in detail on the consumer movement in India and how it led to wide-ranging laws to protect consumers.

He said the law, promulgated in 1986, provides cheap and quick legal redress to consumers. "Anyone can file complaints which are deal swiftly by the authorities. You don't need a lawyer to do this."

Jairaj said though the tendency is for buyers to be forewarned about a product, consumer groups were pushing for the vendor to be responsible if a bad product is sold. Under Indian consumers laws, both the vendor and the advertising agency are responsible for bad or misleading advertising and/or advertising bad products.

The Indian experience followed presentations by eminent speakers including Kithsiri Gunawardene, former Director-General of the Consumer Affairs Authority, corporate lawyer Arittha Wickremanayake and FOCAS President Leel Gunasekera.

Among the issues raised was the lack of consumer resistance, weak implementation of the law and lack of awareness amongst consumers about their rights.

The proposed coalition of consumers groups met on Monday to discuss strategies and the way forward in the campaign to protect the Sri Lankan consumer.

FOCAS officials said they hoped the collective group along with the Goethe Institute would also consider strengthening the FOCAS mechanism which was one of the main objectives of the workshop in addition to raising awareness on consumer issues.

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