Will the Consumer Protection Bill help to alleviate poverty in SA?

The Department of Trade and Industry has assured us that the Consumer Protection Bill will be passed as law in December 2008.  Once this happens South Africans will be amongst the best protected consumers in the world, on paper at least.  The core purpose of the Bill is to promote and advance the social and economic welfare of consumers in South Africa.  Ways in which the Bill aims to achieve this include:

  • Promoting a fair, efficient and transparent market place.
  • Improving access to information, better quality products, competitive prices and improved service levels.
  • Reducing any disadvantages experienced in accessing the supply of goods and services by low income, low literacy, rural and vulnerable consumers.
  • Protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive conduct.
  • Providing for an accessible, efficient and effective system of redress.

In our opinion it’s important that the Bill places emphasis on maintaining equality amongst consumers. Although everyone is affected by substandard  and unfair service, it is typically the poor that are most affected as they can least afford to have their hard earned cash squandered, and have less time and resources to spend on rectifying customer service problems.

Here are a couple of reasons why you should be excited about the Consumer Protection Bill. It:

  • Prohibits the automatic renewal of fixed term agreements.
  • Requires contracts to be written in plain and understandable language.
  • Regulates overselling and overbooking.
  • Prohibits unfair marketing practices.
  • Mandates a five-day cooling off period for direct marketing.
  • Requires product labels and trade descriptions not to be misleading.

My question is, how will the Bill be upheld and enforced? And what steps will be taken to educate marginalised groups about their rights as consumers?  Implementing the Bill is just the first step, for it to really have a significant impact and benefit consumers there needs to be a lot of work around improving consumer awareness at grass roots level and ensuring that the legislation is effectively implemented.