Protecting consumer rights

Consumer protection was the topic of a seminar recently organised by the Consumers Association. The speakers were Marcel Pizzuto, director-general of the Consumers and Competition Division, Dr Paul Edgar Micallef, a representative of the Consumers Association, Carole Bell, a consumer affairs consultant and EU pre-accession adviser, and Benny Borg Bonello, president of the Consumers Association. Emanuel Farrugia, also from the Consumers Association, chaired the seminar.

The seminar brought to light various issues dealing with local consumer matters. Although we have witnessed a considerable improvement both in the services provided to consumers and in the channels through which consumers can raise their complaints, there is the need to go on building on what has been achieved. Changing attitudes and working together as a team, improving strategies to attract the public's interest represent some of the challenges facing consumer organisations nowadays.

NCW strongly supports initiatives of consumer education and is currently studying ways of reaching a wider spectrum of women through its communication systems. NCW would like to thank the Consumer and Competition Division, Ms Bell and Ms Kaye, media expert, for inviting NCW and the Consumers Association to participate in a hands-on workshop on Communication and Media Skills Training at the NCW Centre at Blata l-Bajda.