CONSUMERS still do not know where to address their complaints, authorities warned on occasion of yesterday’s World Consumer Rights Day.
“Is it possible to expect effective checks and an immediate crack down of bleak consumer-related happenings when three different ministries (commerce, health, and agriculture) issues deal with matters of consumers’ health and protection?” DISY’s Lefteris Christoforou asked.
Around 12,000 consumer complaints are filed every year with various different bodies.
The government must “take immediate measures and abandon its passive attitude, which is only making the problem worse,” EDEK’s trade union DEOK said of the lack of healthy and unadulterated competition in Cyprus.
“Organisations are scattered everywhere and people don’t know where to address their complaint,” said Cyprus Consumer Union’s (CCU) Loucas Aristodemou.
Cyprus is the only country in the European Union that does not have an independent food safety authority or a Consumer Ombudsman, Aristodemou added.
The Ministry promotes the updating of legislation as well as the strengthening of implementation mechanisms, Commerce Minister, Antonis Paschalides yesterday said.
“When there is staff shortage, priorities have to be set,” a Commerce Ministry official said. He was responding to a question on why the existing laws might not be implemented.
He added that a number of complaints involve cases which have to go to court and take years to process.
In addition to administrative confusion, another problem is that people do feel confident to eponymously pursue complaints. When complainants are asked to put their name down they tend not to follow through with their complaint, said Aristodemou. “People don’t feel protected,” he said.
Be that as it may, it does seem that more and more consumers are wising up.
“The global financial crisis has made people more discerning, they’re becoming more careful but also more demanding,” Giorgos Stylianou, co-ordinator of Cyprus Consumers Association (CCA) said.
“It used to be the case that people called to complain but did not expect anything to come off it. Now, they’re expecting results,” Stylianou said.
There are two consumer associations in Cyprus, Cyprus Consumers Association and Cyprus Consumers Union. Both are voluntary non-government organisations and act as mediators between the public and retailers.
People can also complain directly to the Commerce Ministry’s Consumer Protection Service.
According to available figures, around 12,000 people complain annually to these three different bodies. The Commerce Ministry received a bit less than 5,000 complaints in 2010. Most of the complaints to the NGOs have to do with products’ guarantee promises, which some retailers refuse to honour.
Visit www.cyprusconsumers.org.cy or else www.consumersunion.org.cy to find out more about retailers’ violations of consumer rights and about how consumers can look out for their rights.
