Africa-Press – Seychelles. ‘Your product, your service, your right, your responsibility’, is the motto of a new national campaign that the Fair Trading Commission is using for consumer education this year.
So that consumers are aware of the products and services on the market, the purpose of this campaign is to give them as much power and information as possible to make well-informed decisions, with responsibility, before they buy anything between the two.
This new campaign for consumers to know their rights and responsibilities was launched by the executive director of the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Commerce, Cilia Mangroo, during a small ceremony held yesterday morning at the International Conference Center (ICCS) in the presence of FTC deputy, Nathalie Edmond and the chairman of the National Forum for Consumers (Natcof), Freddy Lesperance, among other partners and guests.
This launch commemorated Consumer Rights Day on March 15.
In his address, Ms. Mangroo said that the launch of this national campaign demonstrates that the FTC is always looking for better ways and more innovative means to promote all its functions, so that its partners, especially members of the public, better understand its role and sound mandate.
He pointed out that this is a good time for this national campaign, because today as consumers, we are bombarded with many products and services either around us or on social networks, which makes it difficult to make informed decisions.
“It is for this reason that it is important that consumers update themselves with their rights and responsibilities that are guaranteed under the new Fair Trade Commission Law, a law that came into force in August 2022,” Manmzel Mangroo said.
He added that there will be several activities and programs around this campaign and that members of the public participate and engage them to learn more about their rights and responsibilities as consumers.
Edmond’s wife said that with the testimony of different brands in the past, such as ‘Know that you are buying’ and ‘Put it in writing for your own benefit’ among others, which targeted consumers with the aim of giving them more power to make good decisions, under the new law launched last year, there is no better time for the FTC to launch a national campaign to reinforce the importance of consumers knowing their rights and responsibilities under the law.
“It is clear that consumers do not only buy products, but they also look for services from suppliers in the market. So, the FTC has seen fit to put both aspects of what consumers consume together because they recognize that it is important to give consumers as much information, in a way that takes into account the changes that are happening very quickly in the market and in the economy,” Mrs. Edmond ti notice.
He said that the FTC will bring this campaign to all communities through different programs, across the country, to make sure that consumers have a complete education.
This campaign message has also been placed on an SPTC bus.
“The FTC hopes that a remarkable change in thinking will result in consumers knowing how they can help their own bodies, what they should take into account when they are buying a product or looking for a service, and where they can look. assistance if they have exercised their rights but they are not being listened to,” Edmond’s wife added.
Mr. Lesperance did not say that Natcof and the FTC should work together to do better things in the future.
He pointed out that they are doing their best to make the voice of consumers heard, but they lack support to be able to deliver on all their programs.
“We are asking for help, if you can help us so that we can help our consumers to move forward,” Mr. Lesperance said.
The FTC was created in 2009 and is mandated to ensure consumer protection against unfair practices in the marketplace by suppliers. It was given more power necessary to protect consumer rights and at the same time educate them about their responsibilities under the new Consumer Protection Law, in 2010.
Just like other laws that have been used for a long time and in this case additionally in a dynamic economy, certain shortcomings were identified in this law. This saw the emergence of the Fair Trading Act, or Fair Trading Act, 2022, a consolidation of all laws administered by the FTC, which was introduced in August 2022, as the new law that the commission was mandated to enforce. This Law took into account the different constraints and shortcomings identified in the previous law and created a comprehensive set of provisions that were there to provide better protection to consumers in relation to correct information, quality, price, language, receipts, contracts and guarantee.
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