PM does not care – opposition

Opposition spokesman on social policy Michael Farrugia on Wednesday questioned whether the Prime Minister, as minister responsible for consumer affairs, or the Consumer Division cared about the plight of consumers in Malta. Neither part did anything to protect the consumer when and where it had both the right and the duty to do so, he said. And the Malta Resources Authority was possibly giving consumers a disservice.

Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority Bill, Dr Farrugia asked what the Consumer Division had done to approach the MRA and insist on an explanation for the raised prices for gas and fuel products.

On his part the Prime Minister should have investigated what was happening, rather than protecting the wrongdoers.

Simply setting up the Consumer Affairs Authority would not avoid the consumer being constantly ridiculed. The Bill would become a dead letter, he held out.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Farrugia said that even while moving a Bill and setting up an authority, both in terms of competition and consumers it was the executive government that was expected to set an example to the whole marketplace in general.

One was moved to ask if there really was competition in, and if the consumer was getting a better deal than before. The truth was that the consumer had fared better in some aspects but stayed put or fared worse in others.

Once the executive gave a good example, it could turn on the private sector and ensure that it followed suit.

There were things that involved consumer information. Whereas a great number of certain cars had been recalled in the UK , this did not happen so frequently in Malta. It should be the authorities in Malta, where there was not a strong and resourceful consumers’ association, that should see to it that owners of similar cars in Malta got the same treatment as their UK counterparts. Dr Farrugia asked how a consumer in Malta would know of the recall unless they were in touch with foreign news sources.

In such cases it should be part of the consumer authority’s remit to ensure it relayed the information in time and adequately.

The Medicines Authority had been transferred to the Prime Minister’s responsibility, but it was nowhere to be found in the Bill setting up the authority.

Dr Farrugia said that only recently he had received a leaflet proclaiming “129 cheaper medicines”. He had asked friends overseas to check things out for him, and they had found out that in countries with higher disposable incomes the same medicines were still cheaper. He had personally checked their prices with local pharmacies, in the knowledge that some of them were no longer in common use because of changes of dosage. There were at least 35 of them that were still being sold at the old prices.

When would medicines supposed to have lower prices start being put on shelves? The common answer of “when stocks finish” gave no information on whose stock was meant – the pharmacists’, the distributors’ or the importers’.

Dr Farrugia said that in Malta there were chains of stores that also existed overseas. Prices in a good number of them were the same as overseas, but too many were priced higher in Malta where incomes were on average half of those in the rest of Europe.

The same problem existed on food products, not only processed but also fresh vegetables. Why were imported vegetables cheaper than local produce?

There were people who went overseas and spoke of the wish to buy containerfuls of produce if only they could store them. Local supermarkets promoting products at £m2, which translated into €2.40, were actually selling them at €4. The relativity between wages and salaries must be looked at seriously; the consumer was not in the least protected.

Dr Farrugia said problems had recently surfaced regarding television content providers. This was one case where the new authority would one day have to carefully read the small print of contracts entered into by and with such providers. There was one instance where the provider could withdraw programmes down to just a few. Yes, the authority would have to get around to reading the small print in everything.

The consumer in Malta was all too often reduced to a slave, Dr Farrugia said. On gas products, the Malta Resources Authority had expressed itself on an equitable rate, but both suppliers on the market were selling at even cheaper prices. Was the authority giving the people a disservice even though it was a government authority?

Another disservice was being given to fuel users. How could it be explained that when fuel prices overseas were much higher than in Malta, the prices in Malta were now being constantly raised at a time when oil was being sold at lower prices than before?

Only when the consumer started to reign supreme would real progress have been achieved on a par with the EU, where consumer protection was given the highest possible importance.

Concluding, Dr Farrugia urged that rather than being downtrodden, the consumer should be given the right tools to make him the king of the market, as was his due.