In the absence of an appropriate policy, it’s difficult to audit whether the scattered pieces of federal and provincial legislation have really ensured consumer protection as enshrined in United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP) that the UN General Assembly adopted in 1985 and revised in 1999 and 2015.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a national consumer policy sets out the approach of a state towards consumer protection, enumerates consumer rights and apportions responsibility for consumer protection to appropriate organs of the state.

The audit’s primary aim is to review the coverage and effectiveness of existing policies in achieving adequate protection for consumers, ensuring that goods and services are responsive to consumer needs, encouraging high levels of ethical business conduct, preventing abusive business practices, facilitating the development of independent consumer groups, encouraging the development of market conditions that give consumers greater choice at lower prices and promoting sustainable consumption.

Such an exercise helps strengthen a cost-effective, leaner and uncomplicated official structure for the taxpaying consumer.

In Pakistan, the first-ever consumer protection law was enacted in Islamabad in 1995. Later, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab followed suit in 1997, 2003 and 2005, respectively. Sindh passed its Consumer Protection Act in 2014 after an earlier ordinance lapsed.

However, the law cannot be fully implemented until the bureaucracy comes up with rules. Islamabad took 16 years to frame rules that are still not enforced. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also without rules while a case is pending in the Sindh High Court about the early enforcement of the law. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, consumer councils and courts are working at provincial, divisional and district levels.

A multi-sectoral consumer protection policy should be devised at the federal level to remove duplication in the existing legal framework

All these laws have almost similar definition of the consumer: a person or an entity that buys or obtains on lease any product or hires any service for their personal or family use. However, this definition does not include a person that obtains any product for resale or any commercial purpose.

The council, which draws its members from the government, business community and civil society, has a critical role in formulating local policies for the promotion and protection of the rights of consumers. It is supposed to ensure fair and honest trade practices by manufacturers, producers and suppliers of goods and services. It is also expected to coordinate among the government, manufacturers, producers, suppliers and consumers. However, no information is available if these councils are active.

Consumer courts hold hearings on the claims/damages and provide compensation, recovery of damages, replacements of goods or order penalties and imprisonment. The appeals can be filed in a higher court of law.

There is no mention of consumer protection in the constitution. Besides, so far no case law (the law developed over time by judges in the superior courts) on consumer protection has been established. Therefore, not many precedents have been set for the judges of lower courts to follow.

The consumer courts are taking up a range of cases involving products and services. Given the existence of a plethora of regulatory bodies and ombudsmen, it needs to be analysed if these courts are contributing to the development of a consumer protection framework in Pakistan.

According to data published by the Punjab government in 2015, 1,405 of the total 3,520 cases filed in the consumer courts were related to defective products while 2,115 were against inadequate services.

Complaints against electronic goods, including computers, mobile phones, refrigerators and washing machines, topped the list with 515 cases. These were followed by complaints about household items like cooking range, shampoo and shoes with 257 cases. About 170 cases were under the food and beverage category.

As many as 589 complaints were made against public-sector utilities like electricity, gas, water supply, postal services, passport and sewerage. More than 120 claims were made against medical service providers and doctors while 74 claims related to banking and insurance services.

Within the services segment, the presence of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, banking ombudsman, health regulatory authorities, food regulatory bodies and insurance ombudsman has minimised the role of the consumer courts.

Similarly, the issue of deceptive marketing is also addressed by the Competition Commission of Pakistan at the federal level.

As for products, these need to follow quality standards set by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), which is also responsible for their enforcement and imposes penalties in cases of non-compliance.

The PSQCA has developed mandatory standards for 105 products, ranging from food to gas and electricity appliances, which are marked with the PSQCA logo. However, a question mark hangs over the effective enforcement by the PSQCA. Provincial food authorities are further eroding the powers of the PSQCA.

PSQCA is working under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, which has another subsidiary by the name of the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) for accrediting laboratories and certification bodies.

Such arrangements partially fulfil the UNCTAD manual for consumer protection, which assigns this function to both public and private bodies. The government’s role is to administer and enforce consumer laws along with statutory and non-statutory standard bodies for product safety, quality control and certification.

The most critical aspect is that professional and industrial associations should conduct their own complaint-handling and disciplinary proceedings against their members and develop codes of conduct often in negotiation with consumer protection agencies. Such a self-regulatory code of ethics is virtually nonexistent in Pakistan.

Aggrieved consumers may refer their problems to these complaint-solving mechanisms. Alternatively, some companies may have set up their own complaint-handling mechanisms for their consumers.

All these protections can be assessed with reference to Consumer International, a global umbrella body representing civil society, if the legal framework ensures: consumers’ ability to access essential goods and services, inclusivity of vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers, protection from hazards to health and safety, promotion of value for money and protection from risk, promotion of sustainable consumption patterns, equal protection for consumers dealing with organisations online and offline, protection of consumer privacy and global free flow of information, access to clear, accurate information to enable informed choices, assistance to understand consumer transactions and the environmental, social and economic consequences of specific choices, availability of effective dispute resolution services and redress mechanisms and freedom to form consumer groups and have their views included in relevant decision-making processes.

Except for the rules laid down in Islamabad, where there is a provision for consumer empowerment by forming groups at the mohalla level that can ultimately be a part of the decision-making process, public officials dominate decision-making in all other provincial mechanisms. Regulatory bodies are no different.

Therefore, a multi-sectoral consumer protection policy should be evolved at the federal level with the involvement of ministries of finance, science and technology, food security, health, commerce, information technology and industries.

Such an exercise will help remove ongoing duplications and replications in different federal and provincial agencies and save much-needed taxpayer money besides enhancing efficacy.

This will also help the government actively participate in the deliberations of UNCTAD’s intergovernmental group of experts on the consumer protection law and policy, which has been established to monitor the implementation of the guidelines, produce research and studies, and periodically update the UNGCP.

The writer is CEO of The Network for Consumer Protection, a not-for-profit organisation

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 17th, 2018