Voices for Change: the Consumer Right to Representation

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50 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
World Consumer Rights Day 2002: Voices for Change Annex C: Improvement needed This annex presents selected case studies on the need for better consumer representation. Argentina: Small claims court stalled “The amount of damage cannot be the factor that decides whether or not there is access to justice,” says the Liga Acción del Consumidor (ADELCO), which has been campaigning since 1985 for the creation of small claims courts in Argentina. ADELCO was a prime agent in getting protection of consumer rights included in the Argentina Constitution, and it is active in consumer representation in the areas of justice and redress through participation in public committees, written consultations, citizen workshops and provision of technical inputs. Nonetheless, the small claims court proposal has been stalled in Congress for years. In 2001, however, ADELCO seized a new opportunity to represent its project to the city of Buenos Aires, in a project of municipal reforms. Contact person: Ana María Luro E-mail: adelco@speedy.com.ar Brazil: Consumers seek standards input A comprehensive proposal to create an advisory committee for consumer input into standards has been presented by the Fórum Nacional, a national coalition of 24 consumer organisations, led by Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC). IDEC, whose work on standards has had international impact, belongs to the National Council for Standards and Industrial Quality (CONMETRO), as member of a tripartite working group composed of producers, government representatives (from the Ministers of Justice, Health, Agriculture and Science) and consumer delegates. The proposal would create a new body, the Brazilian Consumers Committee (CBCON, Comité Brasileiro de Consumidores) to advise the National Standards System (SINMETRO) and to foster participation of consumer representatives in standards work. The initiative cites the work of the European Association for the Coordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (ANEC) as a model, and notes that government support for consumer representation in standards work has been key to its success. Among the points raised by IDEC in this proposal is the need for “symmetry of information for consumers and producers.” Contact person: Marilena Lazzarini E-mail: coex@uol.com.br Burundi: More timely info Information must be received in a more timely fashion in order for the Association Burundaise des Consommateurs (ABUCO) to satisfactorily represent the interests of Burundi’s consumers before the commission that regulates oil prices. “All too often, we find ourselves at a disadvantage,” writes Nestor Bikorimana, “[stuck] between a private profit-driven sector and a tax-hungry government which exchange information between themselves in advance of commission meetings. Sometimes, ABUCO only sees the working documents for 51
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