Raising Awareness about Consumer Rights

VCA Deputy Director Trinh Anh Tuan said that the Vietnam Competition Authority conducted a survey in 12 provinces and cities across the country in March and April 2016 with the aim of assessing the protection of consumer rights in Vietnam in 2011-2015 in order to propose and build effective solutions to better law enforcement in the future. Respondents were consumers in general and categorised into groups such as State employees, employers, workers, students, homemakers, freelance individuals and others, he said.

 

Ms Pham Que Anh from the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) said that “Survey results show that over 70 per cent of consumers know about consumer rights and consumer protection laws. However, the bottom line is to implement these rights.” She added that the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) and the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (VINASTAS) should establish information database with respect to complaints and disputed commodities. This is positive evidence to operating effects of these agencies, she said.

 

Mr Phan The Thang, Deputy Director of the Consumers Right Protection Office, said that although 58.8 per cent of people surveyed said they had come to consumer protection authorities, this rate did not accurately illustrate the reality because the questionnaire provided four options. Many chose wrong authorities in the questionnaire although they came for assistance earlier. As a result, data on agencies responsible for consumer rights protection need to be reconsidered.

 

In addition, more than half of consumers polled said they had their rights infringed from 2011 to 2015. Notably, the most-complained infringements related to foods, beverages, household electronic devices, consumer goods, telephones, telecommunication devices, fashion, jewellery, tourism, restaurants, computers, internet-connected devices and health care. This reflected current realities and major complaints of consumers today.

 

Infringement-reported fields in the survey are quite simple, e.g. consumer goods, foods and drinks while many emerging fields where consumers lacked their rights and interests were not mentioned in the survey, e.g. credit finance, e-commerce, and public services like electricity, water, telecommunications and health care. Therefore, authorities should have more detailed activities and methods of communication for each field. Moreover, it is necessary to apply innovative processes to resolve complaints so as to help the poor and people from remote, vulnerable areas to access assistances. Furthermore, it is important to develop a collective complaint mechanism and raise awareness of consumer responsibility for the purpose of sustainable green consumption in the future.

 

Proposing solutions for better consumer protection in the future, Mr Nguyen Manh Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association, said that there is a dire need for establishing rapid, convenient information exchange channels for everyone to have easy access to information. Consumer support consulting switchboard (1800-6338) should be further expanded to receive and resolve requests for consultancy.

 

In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will necessarily direct the Provincial/Municipal Departments of Industry and Trade to open workshops to disseminate knowledge of consumer rights, current realities and upcoming solutions. The ministry should coordinate with relevant authorities to build more legal regulations and strictly handle acts of violation to protect consumer rights and interests.