Consumer Protection

Consumer protection safeguards the well-being and interests of consumers through education, mobilization and representation. Consumer protection ensures that consumers make well-informed decisions about their choices and have access to effective redress mechanisms. It also pushes for businesses to guarantee the quality of the products and services they offer. In order to have a functional consumer protection system, the government, businesses and consumers need to work together. The government needs to put in place adequate policies, laws and regulations to ensure that consumers are protected from harmful business practices. There also has to be an effective interplay and coordination between the relevant institutions that are responsible for implementing consumer protection.

Elements of an Effective Consumer Protection

At the same time, businesses should refrain from fraudulent or unfair conduct that misleads or negatively affects consumers. Consumers, in turn, should be well-informed about their rights and be able to proactively assert them. Consumer associations play an important role in raising awareness and reaching out to consumers.