All urged to observe consumer rights |23 April 2014

The principal secretary for Finance and Trade Patrick Payet has called on all concerned to recognise and observe consumer rights in all transactions.

Mr Payet said this yesterday when he officially opened the National Consumers’ Forum (Natcof) international conference, one of the key activities organised to mark the consumer body’s 20th anniversary.

The conference, held at the Seychelles Trading Company’s (STC) conference centre, was attended by the director of the Consumer International Regional Office for Africa Onica Makwakwa and other high level international consumer representatives, as well as local officials.

The conference took place under the theme ‘Natcof: 20 years of Consumer Protection and Beyond’.

While addressing delegates, PS Payet raised a few questions as food for thought: “Who is ideally responsible for the protection of consumers in Seychelles: is it the government alone? Is it Natcof or should it be the traders and service providers who should guarantee consumer protection? Should it rather be consumers themselves through their actions? Why is it that in this century consumer injustice is still prevalent in Seychelles? Are the existing consumer protection framework adequate? Are they responsive to our needs? How effective are they?”

All these issues were to be addressed during the conference with the help of representatives from the Consumer International as there were facilitators who guided the presentations and discussions that followed later.

Topics covered were world consumption pattern; role of Consumer International; consumption pattern of Seychelles consumers and its challenges; Natcof adaptation in the evolving consumer world, lesson learned; Natcof’s strength and challenges: mission for the next twenty years.

Quoting the late US President John F. Kennedy, PS Payet said: “Consumers are the largest economic group affected and effected by every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group whose views are often not heard.”

“This statement was true then and I personally believe that it still remains half a century later,” said Mr Payet.

“In far too many cases in Seychelles the consumers and suppliers are not equal, neither do they have equal bargaining powers. This is why despite all these successes we have made in the field of consumer protection, the government remains unsatisfied. We believe that we all, both government and civil society, can do much more in partnership to protect consumers from existing imbalance relationship within the consumers and the suppliers,” said PS Payet.

He recognised the good working relationship between the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) and Natcof and the recent advances Seychelles has made in the field of consumer protection especially with the creation of FTC, while recognising that FTC is still in its infancy stage.

“Even with those laws and administrative structures it is still much evident that suppliers are in the dominant position when compared to some consumers,” PS Payet said.

He pointed out that it is the responsibility of consumers that they indeed get value for their money while noting that consumer protection is not just about legislation.

“There’s a need for government to step up our effort to ensure that consumer contracts are drafted in such a way that consumer interests are safeguarded as at the moment most contracts safeguard only the rights and the interests of suppliers and only contain obligations on the part of consumers,” said PS Payet.

He noted that trade liberalisation and poor quality products are also creating more challenges to our consumer protection agencies in Seychelles and the advent of sophisticated e-commerce and internet have exposed our consumers to various schemes and scams and online thefts.

He said as a government they will continue to commit themselves to implementing consumer friendly policies so as to put in place the right legislative framework to protect the Seychellois citizens.
On her part, Ms Makwakwa said she was honoured to be here to celebrate with Natcof what she described as “a momentous occasion”.

Ms Makwakwa said that 20 years working for the protection of consumers is not a small feat and that should be a proud moment not only for Natcof but for all consumers in the Seychelles, throughout Africa and in the Consumer International global movement.

She said Consumer International, which speaks for the world’s consumer groups on a global stage through the United Nations and the International Standards Organisation among others, is made up of over 250 organisations from 120 countries of which Natcof is a member.

There are 53 members in Africa spread over 33 countries and, according to Ms Makwakwa, Natcof has been an important partner among the lot.

She said the work of Consumer International with Natcof has helped to strengthen their work especially in the areas of food security, financial sectors, consumer justice and consumer protection.

There was also a presentation by the chairman of Lungos (Liaison Unit for non-governmental organisations) Marie-Nella Azemia, who explained the role of Natcof in Lungos as it is a registered member.

Raymonde Course, the chairperson of Natcof, gave an overview of the evolution of the organisation during its 20 years of existence (from 1994 to date).