Consumer Protection

Imagine that you are queuing up at a food outlet counter waiting to order your lunch. After several minutes when it is your turn, the attendant frowns at you and tells you to quickly make orders without giving you the menu.

While waiting patiently to be served, you notice the attendant keeps giggling and talking with other attendants behind the counter, neglecting the food that was supposed to be served to you.


By the time your food arrives, you find that the quantity of food is less than what you have ordered and the food brought to you is already cold. You decide to demand for a replacement. However the attendant refuses your demand, saying that the food is already paid for. As you attempt to voice out your dissatisfaction to the person in charge, the manager of the outlet declines to entertain your complain and tells you that no one had ever complained about the outlet's service before. 

What would you do in this situation? Are there any rights that you can claim as a customer?

This is a common daily scenario that Malaysian consumers face in our nation's business industry, especially in the food and service sectors. Many businesses in Malaysia tend to ignore customers' rights and continue making profits regardless of moral values and ethical business practice. What is equally unfortunate is that many Malaysians are not aware of their rights as consumers; and in some cases, those who know their rights do not try to claim it due to their lackadaisical attitude. This phenomenon in our society has brought ineffectiveness to consumer protection campaigns that have been promoted by governmental bodies and NGOs.

Recently, Astro Management was criticized by the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) on  its move to hike up prices for its packages without consulting its customers. According to PPIM, the increased service fee is questionable as it is higher than that of Astro's packages in India. Astro offers 155 channels in India and merely charges RM9.17 a month.

PPIM also pointed out the fact that Astro earn RM49 million per year from downtime sessions during rainy days. Astro's customers often complain of the poor transmission they receive when it rains. Apart from that, numerous commercials are aired in the middle of show screenings and some even exceeded 40 minutes. However, Astro Management did not do anything to improve their service despite complains from the public. The Association has even called for Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to revoke Astro's exclusive licence and urged consumers to boycott any product associated with Astro. [Consumer NGO Slams Astro Over Price Hike, The Sun Daily (July 20, 2011)]

 >>> CONSUMERS 'R' US

A consumer is defined as any person who buys goods or uses services, and deserves to receive the quality and quantity that he has paid for. The legal definition for 'consumer' can be found in section 3(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1999, which provides that a consumer is any person who acquires goods and services for personal, domestic or household use. This definition does not apply to any person acquires goods and services for commercial use such as trade, manufacturing for trade or consumption for trade purposes.

>>> CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS

With so many industries exploiting customers through business malpractice, one would question whether there are any laws that protect consumers from these unscrupulous entities and their unethical profit-making schemes. 

Ever since tort cases like Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] AC 562 and Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1893] EWCA Civ 1 made manufacturing companies and business firms realize their liability towards customers, consumer protection laws have developed along as a social movement in order to protect consumers from harmful products and unfair trade. This movement eventually gained support from both governmental and non-governmental bodies. Besides protecting consumers from harmful products and unfair trade, consumer protection laws are also designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or unfair practices from gaining advantage over their competitors.

An example of misleading label on one of Nestle's product

Consumer protection covers a wide range of topics, including but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and other consumer/business interactions. The laws dealing with consumer protection are loosely based on the eight basic consumer rights which were introduced by Consumers International.


 >>> 8 BASIC CONSUMER RIGHTS

Consumers International (CI) is a world federation of consumer groups that serves as the independent and authoritative global voice for consumers. Formerly known as the International Organization of Consumers Union (IOCU) during its establishment in 1960, CI became known as the voice of consumer movement issues such as: product and food standards, health and patients’ rights, the environment and sustainable consumption, and the regulation of international trade and public utilities. CI has four offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Santiago, Chile; London, United Kingdom; and Johannesburg, South Africa.

CI introduced eight basic consumer rights which in its view should be available to the consumer. These include the rights to:-

• choice 
- to be able to select from a range of products and services, offered at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality

• satisfaction of basic needs 
- to have access to basic, essential goods and services: adequate food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, public utilities, water and sanitation

• safety 
- to be protected against products, production processes and services which are hazardous to health or life

• information 
- to be given the facts needed to make an informed choice, and to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and labelling.

• be heard
- to have consumer interests represented in the making and execution of government policy, and in the development of products and services.

• redress
- to receive a fair settlement of just claims, including compensation for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services.

• consumer education
- to acquire knowledge and skills needed to make informed, confident choices about goods and services, while being aware of basic consumer rights and responsibilities and how to act on them.

• a healthy environment
-to live and work in an environment that is non-threatening to the well being of present and future generations.

 >>> CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1999

The Malaysian Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA) is a piece of legislation enacted with the main objective to provide greater protection for consumers. Under this act, a consumer has the right to all products and services of daily basic needs including food, clothing, health, education and house.

Consumers are also protected from products, services, and manufacturing processes that may expose their health and life to danger. An aggrieved consumer may refer any dispute or claim of less than RM10,000 to the established Consumer Redressal Tribunal.


>>> CONSUMER TRIBUNALS IN MALAYSIA

1) Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC)

Formerly known as the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs, the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC)  was established on October 27, 1990 with the aim towards encouraging ethical trade practices and to protect consumer interest.

MDTCC may publish in the Gazette a list of products considered unsafe to be sold and may then require the suppliers or manufacturers of the prohibited products to either recall the products, stop the sale and advertisements of the products, disclose to the public information relating to the characteristics which make the products unsafe, repair or replace the products or refund the purchasers.

The ministry's functions include managing matters related to consumer protection and intellectual property; licensing for manufacturing and sales, direct selling, and selling of petroleum and petrochemical products; implementing weights and measures rules; and registering of trusts companies and businesses. Official site features consumerism education, consumer claim tribunal, goods under price and supply control, acts, statistics, forum, e-aduan and e-tribunal.

The ministry has also set up an interactive and informative consumerism portal known as 1Malaysia Pengguna Bijak (1MPB). Consumer can update themselves with current price of 100 consumer items throughout Malaysia through Pricewatch module. It helps consumer plan their spending wisely through price comparison and know the nearest premise that offer fair price. 1MPB also provides SMS services to consumers - price check and subscriptions, complaint and tribunal claim.

2) Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (FOMCA)

Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (FOMCA) is a national non-governmental organization that is voluntary, non-profit and non-political. It is an umbrella body of registered consumer associations in Malaysia.

FOMCA links the activities of consumer associations in Malaysia as well as at the international level and works towards strengthening consumer protection throughadvocacy, lobbying, networking, representation, campaigning and education.

FOMCA was formed primarily to:

• Strengthen the growth and spread of the organized consumer movement in Malaysia.
• Resolve consumer issues and promote the rights of consumers.
• Promote through the purchasing power of consumers a “need-oriented” development that will ensure socio-economic justice and environmental quality of life for all.
• Coordinate as an advisory body to all the other consumer organization in Malaysia.

3) Consumers Association Penang (CAP)

CAP is a grassroots non-profit, non-governmental organization registered as a society with the Registrar of Societies, Malaysia since 1970. Unlike consumer organizations in the western world that advice consumers on the value for their money, CAP stresses ‘value for people’.

Through the years, the scope of CAP's concerns has expanded from matters of daily living such as product price and quality to more complex problems of meeting basic human needs, saving the environment from further deterioration, safeguarding human health, advocating for food security and sustainable livelihoods.

As a defender of consumer rights and interests, CAP organizes community awareness campaigns on a broad spectrum of consumer, health, social, economy and environment issues that involves research, education, capacity building, organizing and media work.

Objectives of CAP include:-

• To educate consumers, balance consumer needs and degree of protection and to provide relevant consumer rights and entitlements.
• To advice individual consumers and protect their rights.
• To ensure prices of goods are fair and appropriate with relevance to its quality and value.
• To work with the existing laws in order to protect consumer’s interest and general health.
• To encourage the involvement of society and citizens (consumers) in the consideration, standardization and basic provision of their rights.
• To work towards ensuring production of high quality products.
• To study the fluctuations in the market with regards to the factors affecting it, and to advice or make suggestions to the ministry and organizations involved in the business and commercial sectors.
• To carry out activities such as the publication of bulletins and ceiling price lists, as well as forming market organizations and consumer clubs

Through the years, CAPs work has lead to the exposing unethical business behavior in sectors like chemical products, food, pharmaceuticals and health etc. CAP’s advocacy has led to some improvements in the laws to regulate these practices.

4) Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia (PPIM)

The Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia (PPIM) was established in June 1997 by a group of conscientious Muslim professionals and individuals who were concerned with the growing challenges affecting Muslim consumers. PPIM was formed to safeguard the interests of Muslim consumers nationwide through proactive and strategically planned measures. 

Among the campaigns organized by PPIM is the usage of halal logo and the practice of halal certification policy by business industries as a way to inform and to reassure Muslim consumers that their products are  halal and shariah-compliant. Halal means “permissible”, and covers the aspects of slaughtering, storage, display, preparation, hygiene and sanitation. It covers food as well as non-food category of products.