A seminar was held in Beijing on February 25 to discuss the protection of consumers' rights and interests in China. Chen Jiamin, associate professor at the Law School of Tsinghua University, released his team's report on Approaches and Function of Organizations in the Protection of Consumers' Rights, which reveals that although consumers' associations have played their roles in some respects, problems do exist. 

The Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests came into force on January 1, 1994. "Twelve years have passed, but consumers' disadvantage status is still unchanged, which is mainly due to the absence of a real independent consumers' organization," Chen was quoted as saying by a China Youth Daily report on February 28.

"Compared with producers and retailers, consumers are at a big disadvantage," Chen commented. Due to high costs, individual consumers choose to compromise or give up protecting their rights and interests.

According to statistics from relatively developed areas in China, when consumers are involved in a product or service quality dispute, 50 percent of them choose to keep quiet about it, 25 percent will negotiate with producers or retailers to get compensation or a replacement product, 20 percent will complain to the local consumers' associations, but only a small number will use the law as a way of protecting their legal rights.

"Consumers are normally not an organized group of people. In contrast, producers and retailers often have abundant resources," said Zhou Xiaohong from China Consumers' Association (CCA).

According to the report, consumers' associations at all levels in China are government-funded groups. They are neither administrative departments, nor industrial management organizations nor self-help associations set up by consumers themselves. They have no rights to impose fines on businesses and cannot recruit, restrict, give directions or help complainants through Articles of Association. Therefore they can achieve little when they attempt to intervene on behalf of consumers especially when dealing with state-monopolized enterprises.

The team of researchers involved drew up their report after talking to consumers' associations in seven provinces and municipalities.

So far there's no single law defining the make-up, function and direction of consumers' associations. Rooted in administrative departments of industry and commerce, consumers' associations have to protect the rights of the biggest group, but they have no authority over other industrial organizations.

Chen called for collective instead of individual action in order to protect consumers' rights. He also advocated "preventative protection" and integrating the protection mechanism into the market economy regulating system. Consumers' associations should increase in size and be in a position to challenge a whole industry rather than single enterprises. 

"Consumers' rights protection organizations, whether an administrative or social grouping, should be permitted to function and participate in the state's public service policy-making," said Chen. "Only in this way will the voices of consumer groups be heard," he added.

Ding Shihe, secretary-general for CCA, told China Youth Daily: "The function of consumers' organizations in China should be strengthened." He called for the establishment of a coordination mechanism to protect consumers' rights and interests.

Cao Zhongsheng, head of the consumers' rights protection division under the Beijing Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce, said: "We increased the number of hotlines for complaints from three to 13 but the lines are still very busy." The industrial and commercial administrative departments shoulder much responsibility in the protection of consumers' rights, he added.

At present, consumers' action to protect their own rights and interests is more individually based, which cannot effectively deal with the infringements by producers or service providers. Nor can individuals react quickly enough to influence policy-making.

Chen suggested that government allow for the establishment of mass, self-disciplined and reciprocal consumers' organizations and also the setting-up of non-profit consumers' rights protection organizations to ease the pressure on government. In addition, he suggested that communities be encouraged to set up consumer groups especially in countryside and suburban areas.

Ding predicted that civil organizations would be a strong addition to the existing consumers' associations.

(Chin.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing, March 7, 2006)