Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of consumer rights protection

In recent times, the work of protecting consumer rights has always been of interest to all levels, sectors and localities in the province and has achieved positive results. The Law on Consumer Rights Protection amended in 2023 has been promulgated, making an important contribution to perfecting the legal framework and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of protecting consumer rights.

Market Management Officers check stamps and labels of goods at Dabaco Tu Son Supermarket, Dong Ngan Ward (Tu Son City).

According to Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, Chairman of the Provincial Association for the Protection of Consumer Rights, our Party and State have many policies and guidelines to protect consumer rights. A typical example is the issuance of Directive No. 30 CT/TW, dated January 22, 2019 of the Secretariat on strengthening the leadership of the Party and the State's management responsibility for the protection of consumer rights. Most recently, the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights amended in 2023, effective from July 1, 2024, clearly stipulates the rights and obligations of consumers; responsibilities of organizations and individuals trading in goods and services towards consumers; responsibilities of social organizations in participating in consumer protection; resolving disputes between consumers and organizations and individuals trading in goods and services; and state management responsibility for the protection of consumer rights.
The new point of this Law is that the contents and regulations are amended, completed, ensuring practicality, suitable for the current socio -economic development situation and production and business development activities. This is an important legal basis in protecting consumers' rights, helping them feel secure when purchasing goods and changing their thinking and habits in choosing addresses and product suppliers...
In Bac Ninh , agencies and units such as the Department of Industry and Trade, the Provincial Police, the Association for the Protection of Consumer Rights, the Farmers' Association, the Women's Union, the Provincial Youth Union, etc. have stepped up propaganda work, mobilizing cadres and members to actively participate in protecting consumer rights; promoting the role of supervising the implementation of legal regulations; providing social criticism and constructive comments on draft legal documents, plans, programs, projects and proposals of State agencies on the protection of consumer rights; and fighting against acts of infringement of consumer rights.
In 2024 and the first 5 months of the year, the market management force directly propagated and signed commitments not to produce or trade counterfeit, smuggled, poor quality goods, or goods of unknown origin... with nearly 2,030 production and business establishments in localities in the province; inspected and handled 308 cases of violations of regulations in the field of trade with a total amount of collected money, administrative fines, proceeds from the sale of confiscated goods, value of processed violating goods, and inventory of nearly 30 billion VND; transferred 7 cases to the Investigation Police Agency for handling, with a value of violating goods of nearly 23.38 billion VND.
The Customs Branch of Region V also inspected and handled 912 administrative violations in the customs field with nearly 30 billion VND, of which, Bac Ninh province alone handled 471 cases, with a fine of more than 4.9 billion VND. The main violations were declaring and submitting customs declarations after the prescribed deadline, declaring incorrect taxes; not having a license to import goods; violating regulations on management of raw materials and supplies, etc.
Although there have been positive results in the work of propaganda, inspection, control... to protect consumer rights, in reality, there are still some problems that make the effectiveness of consumer protection not as expected. Typically, the current situation of consumer rights violations is still complicated with many sophisticated forms, from counterfeit goods, fake goods, poor quality goods to online fraud and false advertising. Meanwhile, coordination between state management agencies and functional forces is still limited, especially in sharing information and monitoring goods between localities; management, monitoring and handling of consumer rights violations in the e-commerce business environment face many difficulties due to lack of technical tools, legal corridors and human resources; awareness of consumer rights and obligations in a segment of the population is still limited, leading to them easily becoming victims of fraud...
To solve this problem, relevant units need to strengthen inspection, examination, detection, strict and timely handling of subjects producing, trading, advertising, distributing counterfeit goods, goods violating intellectual property rights, and poor quality goods; promote institutional improvement, protect consumer rights. Consumers have the knowledge to protect themselves, avoid losing money, especially in the cyberspace environment. E-commerce platforms need to improve their responsibility in screening and preventing accounts that do not provide complete information, and take strong action when there are signs of violations. Agencies and associations protecting consumer rights need to coordinate and regularly organize activities to improve knowledge and skills in online shopping, in order to issue warnings and instructions for consumers to prevent and avoid fraud...

Thanh Ngan

Source: https://baobacninh.vn/nang-cao-hieu-luc-hieu-qua-bao-ve-quyen-loi-nguoi-tieu-dung-97918.html