By Svetlana Marshall
THE Consumer Affairs Division (CAD) yesterday launched its ‘Know Your Consumer Rights’ campaign aimed at equipping the populace with the requisite knowledge needed to make good purchasing decisions in keeping with the Consumer Affairs Act 2011. The campaign is based on the eight inalienable rights of every Guyanese consumer which include the Right to Choose, the Right to Safety and the Right to receive redress for grievances over consumer products.
The launching took place at the Tourism Ministry, Colgrain House, in the presence of Tourism Minister Catherine Hughes, Director General of the Tourism Ministry Donald Sinclair, CAD Director Muriel Tinnis and Education Officer Kushana Archer.
Minister Hughes, while delivering the feature address, made it clear that the ‘Know Your Consumer Rights’ campaign is not anti-vendor or anti-business but said the Consumer Affairs Division cannot turn a blind eye to the difficulties consumers often experience with regard to the poor quality of goods and services available on the market.
Complaints have ranged from faulty household appliances to substandard technological devices, industrial machinery and even clothing. This continuing trend, the Tourism Minister said, is a hint of disrespect and a laissez-faire attitude that seems to be creeping into the commercial sector.
“We have to nip this in the bud,” she emphasised.
“This campaign is more about sensitising the public to the rights that they have in any buyer-seller scenario. It offers a set of advisories and know-how tools. It is meant to build consumers’ confidence to accept and pay for only services and products that they are satisfied with,” Minister Hughes further explained, noting that it encourages businesses to provide consumers with quality products.

CONSUMER SENSITIVE
“Everyone wins when we cultivate a consumer sensitive business environment because the spinoff effects would benefit the entire Guyanese economy.”
During the campaign, consumers will be educated on the two levels of protection they are entitled to under the law – protection provided by the Consumer Affairs Division and protection by the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC).

LEGAL JUSTICE
It was explained that both regulatory bodies assist consumers in seeking redress if they encounter difficulties during and/or after sale. Unlike the Consumer Affairs Division, CCAC is empowered to pursue legal justice for aggrieved consumers.
For 2014, the Consumer Affairs Division received 32 complaints from consumers, many of whom had purchased appliances online.
Of the 32, 24 of the cases have been closed, while CCAC on the other hand recently concluded a $4 million case in which a dealer had sold a defective vehicle to an individual. Through the intervention of the CCAC, the customer was able to retrieve a great percentage of the $4 million paid for the vehicle.

CONSUMER-RELATED AGENCIES
“The Consumer Affairs Division in collaboration with our support consumer-related agencies such as the Guyana National Bureau of Standards, the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department, CCAC, the Public Utilities and NGOs like the Guyana Consumers’ Association has been developing a coherent strategy and focal point for consumer education. The beneficiaries will be consumers and enterprises across the globe,” the CAD Director said.
Tinnis said research has shown that many consumers in Guyana do not have basic knowledge about their rights as consumers, hence, the launch of the campaign.
“They are often unwilling to seek more information when dealing with critical purchasing decisions and very few make an effort to shop around for the quality and goods they need,” she added.
Therefore, the Education Officer said, the campaign seeks to increase consumers’ awareness and understanding of their inalienable rights.
She said that in turn it would lead to greater confidence and more effective markets.
The campaign, Archer explained, will be executed using all forms of the media including social media and will target everyone from low-end to the high-end consumers.
“The target audience for this campaign is consumers from low to medium socio-economic areas since they are traditionally less likely to know and exercise their rights than those from the higher socio-economic brackets.”