Consumer protection and price hikes

Consumer protection and price hikes – According to section 2(19) of the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009, a ‘consumer’ is an individual who purchases goods either by fully or partially paying or promising to pay, or through deferred payment or instalment plans, without intending to resell or use them for commercial purposes. Thereby, we are all consumers in some way or the other, even if we do not enjoy the same benefits. No business would have existed had there been no consumer. Thus, consumers play a vital role for businesses to operate as the purpose of every business is to make profits by meeting the demands of their consumers.

Although the importance of consumers is very high for busi- nesses, oftentimes businesses fail to have regard to the aspects that protect the rights of consumers despite the bene- fits that may result from it. As consumers are, by nature, the more vulnerable party, it is the consumers who suffer the most from the rash business decisions due to the businesses, i.e. the sellers, having the upper hand.

However, as known to all, law steps in when it comes to ensur- ing fairness by safeguarding the rights of vulnerable parties in an economy. Thus, measures have been taken for such protec- tion. The Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009 (‘CRPA’) was enacted, along with the formation of the National Consumers’ Right Protection Council (‘the Council’) and the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (‘DNCRP’) under this Act in order to effectively protect the consumers’ rights in Bangladesh. Moreover, protecting the consumers is not only beneficial to them but the economy as well as it leads to better quality of goods and services and thereby increases business efficiency in an economy due to high competition.

CONSUMER RIGHTS PROTECTION ACT 2009 (‘CRPA’)
The CRPA also known as the Bhokta Odhikar Shongrokhkhon Ain 2009 was enacted to holistically protect the rights of consumers by addressing various issues such as product safety, adultera- tion, inconsistent pricing, false representation of goods and services and so on. The National Consumers’ Right Protection Council (‘the Council’) and District Consumers’ Right Protection Committees were formed under this Act where the Council oversees and guides the activities of the District and other committees to ensure consumer’s right protection. The DNCRP is a qua- si-judicial body with investigatory, hearing and remedial powers, which assists the Council to execute decisions for consumer protection thus, enforcing it. Now the question arises as to how effective have these implementations – the Act, Council and the DNCRP, been in protecting the consumers amidst the current situation i.e. the Ramadan price hike.

CURRENT  SITUATION
Currently, despite the abundant supply of essential commodities for Ramadan, the prices of those commodities are 50-100% higher than last year. For instance, the prices of Ramadan necessities such as limes, eggplants, onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger and so on have substantially increased. As a result of the substantial increase in price many consumers are in distress as their incomes have not increased accordingly. However, the only commodity which is cheaper this year for Ramadan is cooking oil. As we know, cooking oil is an essential part of every consumer’s Ramadan grocery list, and the inspectors of DNCRP have been successful in controlling and reducing its price by Tk 10, this year.

Nevertheless, the astonishing increase in the prices of other essentials should have also been controlled to protect the rights of consumers and eliminate the monetary burden from their shoulders. Thus, we know that the laws are yet to be made stronger and implemented more strictly in order to ensure more protection especially in times of high demand like the month of Ramadan.