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Market ManagerCompanies discuss concerns over draft law on consumer protection
Update :Thursday, 8-13-2009
VietNamNet Bridge – A conference for businesses and their associations to raise concerns over the new customer protection law draft was held on August 12 by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The ideas contributed at the event were to improve the fourth draft of the consumer law, which will regulate businesses’ responsibilities before, during and after making a deal with consumers, as well as measures that can be implemented by customers to protect their own rights.
Representatives from several business associations made suggestions on eight issues relating to consumer definitions, the law’s scope and objective, dispute mediation, customer protection office models, the Customer Protection Fund and product responsibility.
Phung Dac Loc, general secretary of the Viet Nam Insurance Association, suggested that the law should not only be applied to businesses, but also to service providers, including health insurance firms, hospitals and schools. The consumers were defined as both individual buyers and, more importantly, buyers for production.
On the other hand, Ha Dang Hien, a member of International Arbitrator Centre, said that consumer definitions should be limited to individual buyers, because buyers for production were already protected under the Commercial Law.
Hien also said that the essence of a dispute was between consumers and enterprises. The jurisdiction to mediate the dispute should go to the Court, not to State agencies. Also, the law should have clear provisions on how to operate the Customer Protection Fund.
Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Viet Nam Steel Association, said, "In construction, many people combine standard and non-standard steel. If there is a problem with the building, the dispute with consumers may tarnish the brand we try to build, even if we are not the reason for it."
A representative from Bao Viet, Le Minh Tuan, suggested that the newly-proposed reduced procedure to mediate disputes, though a good idea, was over-simplified. If consumer involvement was enough, the procedure might not fully protect enterprises’ rights.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh emphasised the importance of a new consumer protection law. "The existing laws can’t keep up with the increase in quantity and the level of seriousness in regards to violations."
He also highlighted enterprises’ roles, because the law aimed to protect not only customers’ rights, but also business operators’ reputations and interests.
Dang Hoang Hai, deputy head of MoIT’s Competitiveness Management and a member of the drafting board, said, "Customers’ rights are at the centre of this law. Customers are considered inferior to businesses in terms of financial capacity, information and connection."
He also said that the law’s format had been designed to be more applicable to reality.
Closing the conference, Hai said that all of the ideas contributed to the law draft from consumers and enterprises were welcome by VCCI and MoIT.
The new law draft was expected to be passed in 2010 to replace the current Decree on Consumer Protection, which has been in place since 1999.
(VietNamNet/Viet Nam News)
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