March 15th has been named International Day of Consumers' Rights and Interests, during which a series of activities concerning consumer rights protection are held in China annually. However, in recent years, many local consumers’ associations, the supposed defenders of consumer rights, have turned into offenders themselves. Doubts about their function and justice have thus emerged.
In the past years, a supervisory network integrating judicial organs, government departments, consumers' associations and the media, has taken shape in China and has been extending efficient help to consumers. In March 1983, the first consumers' association in China was established in Xinle County, in north China's Hebei Province. In December 1984, the Chinese Consumers' Association was established in Beijing. Today, such associations number over 3,000 countrywide.
However, many illicit activities being carried out by these associations have also caught citizens’ attention. On the Consumers’ Day of 2000, a consultation activity was co-held by Jiangsu Provincial Consumers’ Association and Nanjing Municipal Consumers’ Association. Enterprises were obliged to pay 3,000 to 5,000 yuan for each of the several dozen stands available.
Due to rising public demand, such associations nationwide have received a document from the national association, warning them to “further standardize” their practices.
What these accusations imply is that people are beginning to doubt whether the local consumers’ associations live up to their name in terms of protecting consumer rights and interests. Some even go to the extreme to suggest local consumers’ associations are no longer valid. According to the Consumers’ Law, consumer associations should be social organizations whereas the fact is most are coated with strong governmental aura.
Most leaders of the local consumers’ associations belong to civil servants engaged in the industry and trade management. Naturally, such associations exert a much stronger influence on enterprises than normal social organizations.
On the other hand, with a dwindling amount of state funding, many local consumers’ associations are relying increasingly on enterprise donations. Such financial maintenance is also lawful. Yet many fear this may greatly curb the justice and fairness of these associations due to conflicts of interest.
Feng Chi, vice secretary-general of Nanjing Consumers’ Association, told the other half of the story. In order to better handle the increasing suits filed by consumers, the consumers’ associations need more subsidies than the state can offer, forcing them to accept enterprise donations to bridge the gap.
Associate Professor Qian Xuchao of Hehai University raised a plausible way to solve the problem, that is, to let courts take over the task of consumer protection and solve producer-consumer disputes through legal procedures. But given the high cost involved and the incomplete nature of legal networks in China, such practice still has a long way to go.
All in all, the achievements made by local consumers’ associations in the past years cannot be denied. Last year alone, the Nanjing Consumers’ Association received 6,000 complaints altogether, among which 98 percent were solved satisfactorily.
Professor Qian considers reform of operation mechanism essential for local consumers’ associations. They should be separated from industry and trade management to become real independent social organizations, and the state should fully finance their operation to avoid any possible conflict of interest through enterprise donation. This is a worthwhile price that the state must pay to protect market order.
(www.china.org.cn by Gao Kun, 04/23/2001)
