Consumer beware !
Consumers have rights in Egypt, but in practice does it matter? Amira El-Noshokaty investigates
"Consumer's rights? Never heard of it," answered college student Nour Saleh. About a year and a half ago he found ants in a bottle of cola he bought. When he checked the other bottles, he found that a whole colony of ants was floating in the drink. He kept it as proof that health and safety standards are lacking, and yet he did not take action against the company that sells the drink. "If I had complained it would have gone nowhere," explained Saleh, expressing a rather common attitude.
Ghada Mohamed is a housewife who has never heard of consumer rights. "I got food poisoning two years ago when I ate a bad can of processed beef. Later, I learned that one should check the expiry date of packaged food. If not for my own safety, then for the safety of my child. There are other times when I bought milk which turned out to be sour," Mohamed said. How about filing a complaint? "I have neither the time nor trust in the system. I know that my rights are non- existent within the current system. I leave it to God."
Consumer rights have been a growing global concern -- a concern that has gained momentum since the establishment of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in 1947, aimed at providing correct information about consumer products.
In 2002, the Central Egyptian Society for Consumer Protection (CESCP), a local consumer protection NGO established in 1994, asked 1,500 people from six governorates -- Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailia, Port Said, Beni Suef and Giza -- about their attitudes towards consumer protection. Reactions to the scenario of buying a faulty product ranged between returning it and getting a refund to simply getting rid of it. A mere six per cent took the initiative of reporting it to the Ministry of Supply or the regular police and filing a complaint. According to the study, only 37.7 per cent of people knew of consumer right protection associations. Anan Helal, CESCP executive manager, credits such negative attitudes to both a lack of awareness and a lack of trust in the system as a result of past bad experiences.
On a national level, the debate over consumer rights aims to balance concerns for safety while making sure products are available at affordable prices. According to Abdel-Azim Abdel-Razek, deputy of the general administration of food control at the Ministry of Health and Population, "The ministry's role is monitoring and controlling products -- from the factory level to the local markets. This happens on a regular basis. Every 15 days almost 6,000 food inspectors make the rounds of various food outlets. Our role is to protect people from diseases that result from bad food products." Abdel-Razek went on to explain that hospitals automatically report incidences of food poisoning to the Ministry of Health. "Our role is then to investigate the cause of the poisoning, and take samples of what the person ate."
A myriad of government agencies share the responsibility of consumer protection, including the Ministry of Supply and Trade, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture. Insufficient funds to ensure proper monitoring of markets and products is a commonly cited problem, but a few government regulations are deemed unnecessary.
For example, current law requires Egyptian produce sold at local wholesale markets to be tagged with certain data and expiry dates. Obour Farag, owner of one of the oldest herb and grocery shops on Port Said Street, which runs between Al-Hussein and Attaba districts and is known to be the largest food wholesale market in Cairo, expressed frustration over the Ministry of Supply's demand that the produce suppliers write the qualifications and expiry date of the produce he buys -- although he buys most of his products from "illiterate peasants" who barely understand the system. "If the authorities found some cumin in my shop that has no expiry date on it, I could get imprisoned for one year and have to pay an LE10,000 fine. All for some cumin that would cost me LE100," Farag said.
And the vendors have other travails. "Sometimes the problem comes from the consumer. He or she will return cheese after 15 days and claim that it tastes bad. It is usually because they do not read the instructions regarding storage," explained Magdy Foda, a wholesale vendor. "Besides," added Foda, "Our customers, due to the poor state of the economy, think 10 times before buying any product, so I make sure that he gets the best quality or else I am bound to lose him."
In the 1990s, 66 consumer rights non-profit organisations (NGOs) were founded in Egypt. "CESCP aims to create more public awareness regarding consumer rights, through seminars and media interviews," Helal told Al-Ahram Weekly. Specifically, the organisation helps consumers file complaints through the association's direct connections with the appropriate ministries.
CESCP is best known for its media campaign a few years ago in which they published a series of quality assessments related to products from local food companies -- specifically those that manufacture processed meat and cheese.
However, when the sample results where published in a local newspaper, some of the food companies that did not meet CESCP's quality control standards took the organisation to court. And while CESCP won the case, they have not repeated this type of action for financial reasons. As Helal puts it, "Our aim is not exactly putting people out of business. The idea is to analyse products, compare their quality and make this information available to consumers. This is the case with all other consumers rights associations abroad and the goal is to increase consumer awareness."
But most consumer protection advocates argue that while awareness is a good thing, strong legislative measures are necessary. "A new comprehensive consumer law is essential to combine all the scattered laws that protect consumers from commercial fraud into one law that would provide the consumer with faster compensation," said Helal.
To illustrate her point, Helal referred to Consumer Policy Committee in the case of contaminated milk that was imported from Germany. "This product would have found its way into the Egyptian market had it not been reported by the German Green Party. The role of foreign organisations is very crucial," she explained.
A more rigorous consumer law has been debated in Egypt for several years now. "Despite the importance of [such a] law it has not been considered a priority due to the overloading of our parliament's agenda in the past," explained Mona Zulficar, a lawyer. "However at the latest National Democratic Party (NDP) conference, the consumer rights law was considered a priority and was included as part of the paper on citizens rights and democracy," Zulficar said. According to Zulficar, it is important to empower consumer rights NGOs to pressure suppliers.
Until the law is passed, non-governmental organisations can gain a little more consumer rights protection leverage by joining the Egyptian International Committee for Consumer Rights Protection (EICCRP). According to Mahmoud Eissa, head of the EICCRP, as well as the chairperson of the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality Control at the Ministry of Industry, the idea of the EICCRP came from the fact that the ISO created a main Consumer Policy Committee (COPOLCO) which has a parallel committee located at the Organisation of the Standardisation of the ISO member countries. The EICCRP -- established in the late-1980s within the Organisation for Standardisation and Quality Control -- is the link between the main regional and international committees.
"But six months ago, we discovered our role could be much more than just a link," Eissa said. "Now the committee has a council of representatives, including the Ministry of Health and Population, the Ministry Supply and Internal Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the Industrial Quality Control Authority, the Standardisation and Quality Control Authority, the Ministry of Administrative Development, the Ministry of Information and representatives of selected consumer rights NGOs."
The committee's main role is to create certain consumer protection standards. More generally, the minister of industry will decree punishment for anyone who violates consumer rights -- a temporary measure until the law is issued. In addition, the committee has approached the Supreme Council of Journalism and the Television and Radio Union complaining about many misleading advertisements which claim a product contains ingredients that it really does not. Both groups agreed to cooperate, and the TV authority has even sent advertisement clips to the committee before airing them. This gesture is quite important considering that -- according to the same CESCP study mentioned above -- more than half of the people interviewed say they are affected by what they hear and see in TV commercials.
"The committee is an open window for the consumer. All the information that he needs will come from one place, so at the end of the day when a consumer files a complaint it all comes back to us. We are now researching the price increase for commodities and starting our awareness campaigns. We have a message to the consumer that is broadcast during the month of Ramadan and a magazine that is out every three months that covers consumer rights issues," added Eissa. He further explained that, "An NGO has no power alone. But being with us on the committee, they can have real power."
"I heard of the consumer rights protection NGOs, but I think that their efforts are not enough. We are almost 70 million people and our festivals and occasions are celebrated with lots of food," commented Farag, who affirmed that every month -- sometimes every 15 days -- inspectors from the Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Supply drop by and take samples for inspection. The samples are usually acceptable, but if they are not, and the manufacturer refuses to take the food back, the vendor is left in a difficult position.
When asked about the aid that the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality Control at the Ministry of Industry provides, Farag explained that this organisation is relatively new and must widely advertise so vendors know to contact them in case of a complaint.
As for the new consumer rights law that is impatiently awaited by some, Farag is not so enthusiastic. "It is obvious from its name, it is only about consumers. But what about the vendor's rights?" asked Farag.
C a p t i o n : Investigating bad meat; getting ready to sell; many commodities, but what to choose
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 November 2003 (Issue No. 663)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/663/fe1.htm