CONSUMER PROTECTION CONFERENCE PROMOTES APPLICATION OF UNITED NATIONS GUIDELINES IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Press Release
ENV/DEV/366
CONSUMER PROTECTION CONFERENCE PROMOTES APPLICATION OF UNITED NATIONS GUIDELINES IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
19960508 Progress in Last Decade Reported, But 17 Nations Said to Lack Needed Legislative FrameworkHARARE, 7 May (DPCSD) -- The Africa Conference on Consumer Protection, an international meeting, that brought together African government officials, consumer leaders and experts from African countries, on consumer protection issues, took place in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 28 April to 2 May.
Organized by the Consumers International in partnership with the United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, with funding from the European Union and hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe, the Conference stressed that African countries should strive to enact and enforce consumer protection policies and legislation on the basis of the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection, in order to protect their citizens as consumers.
The Guidelines, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985, represent internationally accepted principles on what constitutes a fair and reasonable standard of consumer protection. While important progress has been made over the last 10 years in promoting the United Nations Guidelines in Africa, as evidenced by the creation of about 80 consumer bodies, 17 out of the continent's 56 countries still do not have such organizations, and many do not have fully developed or operational legislative framework and institutional capacity for consumer protection.
The meeting urged the African countries to enact and implement policies which take into consideration everyday changes arising from the new globalized and liberalized world economy. In addition, it identified a number of areas for special attention: health, safety, access to goods and services, measures for redress and areas requiring future action, such as the extension of the United Nations Guidelines for consumer protection to include, for example, the areas of financial services and consumer representation.
The Conference also discussed issues related to equitable distribution of services to consumers, strategies for protecting consumers' needs and interests, and the promotion of education and public awareness to enable individuals to become critical consumers.
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The United Nations representative at the meeting, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Coordinator for Africa and Least Developed Countries, said there was a close link between production, consumption and disposal of goods and services, and sustainable development. He said formulation and implementation of consumer policies should be optional and voluntary, although there was a need for close cooperation between governments and consumer organizations to achieve better results.
At the end of the week-long Conference, a Model Law for Africa for the Protection of the African Consumer was launched. The Conference also developed a number of recommendations to help African countries in applying the United Nations Guidelines and for the expansion of their scope into new areas, such as financial services.
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