'Consumer rights protection to increase corporate efficiency,' Executive Co-ordinator, The Network for Consumer Protection

The Network for Consumer Protection (TheNetwork) is an independent, non-governmental organisation registered under section 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984. Founded in 1992, its initial focus was on medicines and public health, which was later broadened to general consumer protection. Its mandate is creating awareness and promotion of consumer rights in Pakistan. TheNetwork is a member of Consumer International, a global body of consumer associations.
Following are selected excerpts from BR Research's sit-down with Nadeem Iqbal, TheNetwork's Executive Co-ordinator/CEO, in Islamabad earlier this week:
"Since it is the private sector, and not the government, that is the major provider of goods and services, people need to be empowered through mechanisms that protect their rights as consumers. It's not an ideological debate, it's a necessity: if a product test establishes lack of compliance with quality standards, the producer has to provide a redress. Therefore, consumer rights protection should not be seen as anti-corporate agenda - it should be seen in the context of improving corporate efficiency," Nadeem Iqbal started off.
TheNetwork was established by a group of doctors in 1992, and perhaps that is why, in its earlier years, it remained focused on health issues such as health policy, drugs pricing policy, and pharma consumer education. Later, the focus of the organisation enveloped consumer rights issues in some key sectors, which resulted in some impact.
One of them was Tobacco Control. "We were instrumental in getting the tobacco control law passed in 2002. The law mainly focused on reducing smoking's hazards for non-smokers. Through our advocacy, the tobacco advertising is now heavily regulated in Pakistan. We have been monitoring tobacco companies' point-of-sale advertising through our volunteer network, and soon we will bring out our report which will recommend further policy changes in tobacco advertising," he highlighted.
TheNetwork's other focus area was breastfeeding where it found some negative information that impacted the health of the mother and the infant. "We found out that in some cases mothers were not breastfeeding their babies under the influence of unethical marketing practices of the baby milk formula companies - this was also seen in rural areas. We got the breastfeeding law legislated by 2002, and its rules were enacted by the year 2008. Now there is a complete code of ethics for marketing to be followed by these companies. They are not allowed to spread misleading messages such as the one that says that baby formula milk is a replacement for breastfeeding," he noted.
Another area was clean drinking water, for which TheNetwork succeeded in getting a dedicated policy approved by the government.
Nadeem maintains that TheNetwork is not a service delivery organisation, it is an advocacy outfit. "Our main focus is on quality and safety, rather than the pricing, of products. The regulatory bodies are there, but they are weak, and their consumer protection capacities need to be enhanced. We advocate for the enactment of laws that protect consumers. We meet our funding needs through donor support which is highly competitive. We have had donor assistance from organisations such as USaid, DfID, Unicef, WHO and Oxfam."
Consumer Protection Regime in Pakistan
Nadeem identified three important pillars for protection of consumer rights. First one is legislation. "Around 1985, the United Nations issued some guidelines for consumer protection, which were subsequently picked up in Pakistan. In 1995, a Consumer Protection Law was legislated for the Islamabad capital territory. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly followed suit in 1997, Balochistan in 2003, Sindh the same year (through an ordinance that now stands lapsed) and Punjab in 2005. After legislation, next pillar of the consumer protection regime is implementation mechanism, which outlines the scope and capacity of institutions. Third pillar is enforcement, where people's complaints are compensated and companies penalised."
The legislative leg of this framework has been satisfactory, but the implementation and enforcement pillars are not strong, said the TheNetwork CEO while elaborating as follows:
"A consumer can go to the Deputy Commissioner who is in charge of the district committees, or to the consumer council, for complaint redress. If unsatisfied, s/he can then approach the consumer courts, which are at the divisional level. One can walk in with the application and just hand it to the judge. All of this is free of cost and there is no need to get a lawyer. Since most of the consumer complaints are of nominal nature, the opportunity cost of this process is very high for consumers. We are pleading with the district governments to make the complaint filing process easy, preferably online. Judicial process will take its time, but the consumer's opportunity cost has to be taken care of. Things are gradually moving in right direction. For instance, the Rawalpindi Consumer Protection Court has its own website, where they put their cases. But there is a lot that needs to change."
Nadeem, however, credited Punjab with a better enforcement record. "If we see the enforcement of these laws, Punjab is much ahead of other provinces. There are 11 consumer courts working here, along with 11 consumer councils. Yet Sindh is practically without any consumer protection for some time now. KP suffers from administrative incapacity. Islamabad's situation is pathetic to say the least."
He stressed on the need for business community to be a part of consumer protection for their own benefit. "The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has now made some standards for energy efficiency. A fan made in Pakistan has to be certified by PSQCA as energy efficient fan, but the industry hasn't complied yet. We are telling the chambers of commerce and industry that they are the ones who are bigger consumers of gas and electricity than anyone else, so they shouldn't resist consumer protection laws as they will also benefit from that."
Consumer Education
Consumer education is the most important part of this all, Nadeem emphasised. "Surveys have shown that consumers don't know about their rights, and as such have very limited knowledge of existing laws. Consumers need to be educated on how to make complaints against defective or substandard products and seek compensation. Other than Punjab, no other province has exclusive consumer courts. Session judges are given additional charge, and those judges may or may not be well-oriented on the subject. Some schools in Punjab are providing consumer rights education, but this is still limited and is missing in other provinces.
There is a need to incorporate consumer education content in national school curricula, just as there is a need for more organisations like ours because creating rights awareness is a challenging task. People tend to go for informal structures for complaints resolution, so there is a need to mobilise consumer bodies rather than individuals," he said.
Nadeem informed that TheNetwork is also seeking activation of consumer redress mechanism in the energy sector. "Current laws actually deter consumers from being represented in the utilities industry that is dominated by the state, regulators and the private sector. In recent few public hearings, we have quizzed Nepra and Ogra on issues which ultimately affect the consumer, especially line losses in electricity distribution and unaccounted-for-gas in the gas system.
We are trying to mobilise consumers, by putting up posters and distributing brochures that educate consumers on how to read utility bills and report discrepancies. Complaints can be redressed by the companies, but if people are seeking compensation, they must approach consumer courts. We have so far trained 180 lawyers in three districts on consumer law who can give free legal advice to consumers. We are also imparting training to the district government officers to better address such complaints," he concluded.