HYDERABAD, June 30: A workshop on Sunday demanded that the government legislate the Consumer Protection Law to ensure that consumers are protected all over the country.

The demand was made at an advance training workshop for journalists on human rights held here at a hotel.

Speaking to the participants, Nadir Iqbal, advocate of The Network for Consumer Protection, spoke at length about the unethical promotional campaign by the manufacturers of different goods, globalization of consumer protection, and UN guidelines for consumer protection, etc.

He said that it was upto the state to speak in favour of consumers, and check and regulate the manufacturers.

He said that in even in India the Consumer Protection Law was enacted in 1986 having 537 provisions related to consumers’ protection and the courts decided the matter within 90 days without questioning the locus standi of the litigant, and added that the law was very effective in other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Korea.

He said that a draft of the Consumer Protection Law is being prepared for Sindh, whereas in Islamabad and the NWFP not a single case was recorded though they have Consumer Protection Law since 1995 and 1997 respectively.

He said that province-based Consumer Protection Laws would not be enforced effectively and ensure protection to consumers because people buy things from all over the country during their visits to different cities.

He said the buyers of Sindh will not be able to seek their rights against the NWFP or Balochistan-based manufacturers.

Arguing that there are inherent lacunae in our legal system, he said that the people needed consumer courts, active bureaus on an administrative level having quasi-judicial powers, and added that there should not be any court fees and condition of a counsel for buyers in getting the Consumer Protection Law enforced.

He said that goods manufacturers attacked the consumers with a series of advertisements through the electronic and print media thus influencing them, and added that such advertisements linked prosperity of the entire family with the use of a particular product with the result that the consumers had become a weaker party against the entrepreneurs as there seemed to be no role of the state.

He elucidated that, for instance, which consumer could check whether a matchbox has 35 matches as prescribed on the box and whether a toothpaste has the accurate quantity of paste.

He stressed the need for saving local industries on the ground that if Chinese fans are allowed to be flooded in the market then who would go for Gujrat-made fans which would deal a severe blow to our local industry.

Nadeem Iqbal, a journalist, delivered his lecture on the basics of investigative reporting on human rights.