Just a day after The Times put forward the view that, despite all the official monitoring of prices that is being done regularly, consumers generally feel unprotected, the Finance Minister said the government was working towards the setting up of an authority that would be responsible for consumer rights. The aim, he said, was "not to have a consumer protection framework but, rather, to strengthen a structure that is already there". But has not this been said already? What is keeping the government from moving ahead? Even though the number of quangos has been mushrooming over the years, consumer protection is definitely one line that ought to be established on a stronger basis.
Up to now, the work is being done by the ministry's Consumer And Competition Division, which, according to the minister, has continued to build on the strong price monitoring regime shared for the past two years between itself and the National Euro Changeover Committee.
Good work was done before the currency changeover and the price stability pact worked well but, although both the division and the committee have continued with their work since then, the consumer was not kept adequately informed of what was being done. Perhaps, this is one of the major shortcomings that would need to be corrected.
The consumer needs to feel that its interests are being well taken care of all the time, not just when a particular case of abuse makes it to the media.
How many people know of the European Consumer Centre for Malta, about which the minister also wrote when he referred to the planned setting up of an authority? According to the minister, the centre, which forms part of the European Consumer Centres network, handled 170 complaints in the first eight months this year.
An authority has to work with its feet on the ground and would have to have the resources to check complaints without loss of time.
The monitoring of prices is an ongoing exercise but it assumes greater importance at times like the present when food prices have shot up. True, more people are becoming price conscious and would go to great lengths to strike a bargain but this has not eliminated abuse, as consumers often find to their cost.
One major concern for many months has been the price of medicines, with many reporting that in Sicily, for example, some medicines are available at lower prices than those quoted here, even when allowance is made for transport costs. Following checks made over the past months by a medicines committee, the price of no fewer than 60 medicines has been reduced. The figure, given by the minister, is not small and suggests that unwarranted profit was being made in the import-retail chain up to the time action was taken. Hopefully, the exercise will be kept up to remove other abuse that may still lie in the sale of medicines.
The Finance Minister promises that his government plans to remain vigilant "and it is for that reason that we have committed to allocate more resources, financial and human, to ensure a genuinely fair playing field for all, businesses and customers". Time will tell if the minister means what he says.