Consumer affairs

I refer to the editorial of September 12.

Although consumers across the European Union have Commissioner Meglena Kuneva fighting for consumer rights, she is not the only one to highlight this issue. The Consumers' Association has for the past 25 years been doing just that.

The editorial said "the system is in place". It depends what it meant by the system. If one means a complete complaints procedure, then I have to differ because the reality is different. This can be explained by the fact that although there is a legal procedure, it is not obtaining the desired redress for consumers.

"The main line of defence is the Consumer Claims Tribunal". In fact, the tribunal should be the last line of defence. There is lack of awareness of another line of defence. The Consumers' Association and the Consumer and Competition Division are both empowered by law to investigate complaints with the aim of reaching an agreement between both parties. In fact, the Consumer Affairs Act does not permit consumers to present their complaint before the tribunal if this is not investigated first by either the Consumers' Association or the Consumer and Competition Division.

Enforcement of tribunal decisions is where the rot has set in. A sizeable number of traders are listed as having refused to implement tribunal decisions without lodging an appeal. This requires the consumer to find a lawyer and apply for the issue of a garnishee order in court to the tune of Lm106 in court fees. Rather than do this, consumers are abandoning justified complaints decided in their favour by the tribunal because of this situation.

This has taken us back 25 years when consumers used to abandon justified complaints on claims of small amounts to avoid going to court.

Another case in point is the letter in The Times by a consumer by the name of Gaby Giacchino (September 19). Even though it may be a one-off case, what can the correspondent do except moan about such an unfortunate situation when, for reasons beyond one's control, there can be no redress.

Tribunal decisions have to be enforced. The Consumers' Association has been doing its part to try and get the law amended. Consumers have no control over changes to laws. We have to wait until consumers are more proactive in their approach to make their voice heard (like Ms Giacchino) or till the cent (penny) drops.

Publishing details of defaulting traders in the ministry website is, in my opinion, not enough. Not everybody has a computer.

Other means of media communication have to be employed to name and shame these defaulting traders and reach more consumers who have to be informed about who these traders are so that consumers can act accordingly.

There is other information consumers should have, such as the address of the Consumer Centre unit, located at 47A, South Street, Valletta, the campaign website address about consumer rights found at www.camalta.org and the telephone number - 2122 1901.

The information is there but consumer rights need to have methods of redress made more realistic. When all is in order, then we consumers will have to do something...except moan.