Voices for Change: the Consumer Right to Representation

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World Consumer Rights Day 2002: Voices for Change
Forbrukerrådet handles practically all complaints
going to the public and voluntary committees.
Not surprisingly, it receives an enormous
quantity of material about consumer problems
that it uses as a basis for planning its activities.
Contact person: Finn T. Aas
E-mail: Finn.aas@forbrukerradet.no
Senegal: Clear water bills
As the consumers’ representative on the
watchdog body for Senegal’s private water
company, the Association de Défense des
usagers de l’Eau, de l’Electricité, des
Télécommunications et Services (ADEETélS)
spotted a serious inconsistency in billing
arrangements. This error meant that all
consumers were paying value-added tax (VAT)
on their full water supply, despite agreements to
provide a sliding tax scale depending on
consumption. ADEETelS used its access to the
monitoring board to propose reforms that
eventually led to the bills being properly
calculated with the tax exemption.
Contact person: Dr Ahmadou Abdoulaye Aidara
E-mail: adeetels@sentoo.sn
Slovak Republic: Helping
consumers query electricity bills
In 1995 the Association of Slovak Consumers
(ASC) formed its own energy commission to
help consumers understand their electricity bills.
ASC support took the form of written
presentations and recommendations to the
utilities company. Over the past five years,
the number of customer claims and complaints
has fallen steadily. In addition, consumer
representatives were asked to participate in the
tender selection committee for energy.
Contact person: Zuzana Durianova
E-mail: zss@zss.sk
Sweden: Ethics of GM labelling
The Swedish consumer group, Konsument-
Forum has been active nationally on GM issues
since 1995. Its efforts have convinced the food
industry and the government to accept
mandatory labelling of all GM foods, including
food oils and food additives. It has also argued
successfully that antibiotic resistant marker
genes are unacceptable to consumers – a position
later adopted by the Swedish government. It
holds that health or environmental risks are not
the only legitimate consumer concerns; ethical
and global concerns must also be taken into
account in the GM debate. As a result of its
activity at the national level, many of these
concerns are now included in the European
Commission proposal for labelling and
traceability of GM foods.
Contact person: Martin Frid
E-mail: konsument-forum@konsumentsamverkan.se
Zambia: Fair electricity prices
Prior to December 2000, the monopoly power
company ZESCO used an Automated Tariff
Adjustment formula to set tariffs, taking into
account the prevailing exchange rate. In practice,
this meant that ZESCO raised prices twice a year.
The Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA)
wrote to the Energy Regulation Board to advance
consumers’ complaints. The board then ruled
that the automated tariff adjustment formula be
abolished, and that “all concerned parties meet
later to determine another method agreeable to
all parties”. As Muyunda Ililonga writes: “A
public policy was changed, ZACA had made a
mark and the consumers were happy!”
Contact person: Muyunda Ililonga
E-mail: zaca@zamnet.zm
Zimbabwe: Protections in
neo-liberal reforms
In the past decade, Zimbabwe has felt the impact
of structural adjustment policies, which have
removed price controls and subsidies. Active
representation efforts by the Consumer Council
of Zimbabwe (CCZ) have left the Zimbabwean
consumer “better protected now than at the
inception of the new economic programmes,”
writes Elizabeth Nerwande. CCZ is a member of
the National Economic Consultative Forum, a
multi-sector policy advisory forum to the
government. It is also a member of the Tripartite
Negotiating Forum, with government, labour
and business bodies, where it seeks to raise
consumer protection policy as a mainstream
issue. CCZ efforts include lobbying for the
introduction of a small claims court, a
competition commission and legislation to
allow class action suits.
Contact person: Elizabeth Nerwande
E-mail: consumer@africaonline.co.zw