Ways Econsumers Can Be Protected Law Commercial Essay

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

It is indeed good as long as one gets what one buys. Unfortunately it does not help a lot. Neither use words nor done by computers, the involvement of human beings are still inevitable. Once they get involved in this situation, they will be invariably with the good, bad, and the ugly whom called as human trait which ones must be wary of.

CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS

With industries nowadays exploiting customers by business malpractice, ones should question whether are there any laws to protect the consumers from being cheated by these unscrupulous entities and the willing of unethical profit-making schemes.

According to tort cases like Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] AC 562 and Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1893] EWCA Civ 1 whom made manufacturing companies and business firms to know their liability towards customers, in order to protect consumers from harmful products and unfair trade, consumer protection laws has been developed to prevent reputation. This gains the supports from both governmental and non-governmental bodies. Besides that, consumer protection laws are also designed to prevent businesses who engage in fraud or unfair treatments from taking advantage over their competitors.

Consumer protection covers a wide range of topics, but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and others involving consumer/business interactions.

CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT 1999

The Malaysian Consumer Protection 1999 (CPA) was formed to protect consumers right from unethical business transactions between dealers and consumers. Before this, Section 2 of this Act stated that the Act does not apply to any trade conducted by electronic unless it was prescribed by the Minister. E-commerce activities are still new and yet to develop further in Malaysia during the enforcement of the Act. Therefore, the provision in this Act does not specifically indicate whether the applicable activities include activities of e-commerce in Malaysia. Additionally, technology in Malaysia had been fully developed as consumers prefer to make business transactions through e-commerce due to the choices of goods and easy to operate.

However, various problems arise through activities involving e-commerce transactions such as consumer fraud cases. For example, item ordered through the websites has not received by the buyer although payment had been made via bank or post. Or the quality of the items ordered unachievable with the standard stated in the websites.

Furthermore, according to Section 19 of the Act, manufacturers of products or goods must comply with safety standards stipulated in section 21 of the Act. Therefore, to conduct business transaction, the manufacturers and sellers must ensure that products manufactured are sold out safely to be used by the consumers. If this Act clearly applies to electronic transactions, the provisions stated is relevant for consumers to take action against traders who had committed fraud to the consumer tribunal or court.

So, government had taken consideration as a wise action when this Act was amended in August 1997, which the consumer is under protection for transactions involving online matters. As stated in Section 2 of the Act "Subject to subsection (2), this Act shall apply in respect of all goods and services that are offered or supplied to one or more consumers in trade including any trade transaction conducted through electronic means".

BASIC CONSUMER RIGHTS

Consumers International (CI) is a world federation of consumer groups that serves as the independent and authoritative global voice for consumers. Formerly known as the International Organization of Consumers Union (IOCU) during its establishment in 1960, CI became well-known with these issues such as product and food standards, health and patients’ rights, the environment and sustainable consumption, and the regulation of international trade and public utilities.

CI introduced eight basic consumer rights which should be available to the consumer. These include the rights to:-

choice - able to select from a range of products and services, offered at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality

satisfaction of basic needs - to access basic, essential goods and servicesafety - to be protected against products, production processes and services which are hazardous to health or life

information - to be given the facts needed and to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and labeling.

be heard - to have consumer interests representing the making and execution of government policy, and in the development of products and services.

redress - to receive a fair settlement of compensation for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services.

Consumer’s education - to acquire knowledge and skills needed to purchase goods and services, while being aware of basic consumer rights and responsibilities and how to act on them.

Healthy environment - to live and work in a non-threatening environment to the well-being of present and future generations.

MINISRTY OF DOMESTIC TRADE, COOPERATIVES AND CONSUMERISM (MDTCC)

MDTCC was established on October 27, 1990 aiming towards encouraging ethical trade practices and to protect consumer interest. MDTCC may publish in the Gazette a list of products considered unsafe to be sold and required the suppliers or manufacturers of the prohibited products to either recall the products, stop the sale and advertisements of the products, disclose to the public information relating to the characteristics which make the products unsafe, repair or replace the products or refund the purchasers.

Their function includes managing matters related to consumer protection and intellectual property, licensing for manufacturing and sales, direct selling, and selling of petroleum and petrochemical products, implementing weights and measures rules, and registering of trusts companies and businesses. Official site features consumerism education, consumer claim tribunal, goods under price and supply control, acts, statistics, forum, e-aduan and e-tribunal.

The ministry has also set up an interactive and informative consumerism portal known as 1Malaysia Pengguna Bijak (1MPB). Consumer can update themselves with current price of 100 consumer items throughout Malaysia through Pricewatch module. It helps consumer to plan their spending wisely and know the nearest premise that offer fair price. 1MPB also provides SMS services to consumers - price check and subscriptions, complaint and tribunal claim.

FEDERATION OF MALAYSIAN CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION

FOMCA is a national non-governmental organization that is voluntary, non-profit and non-political. FOMCA links the activities of consumer associations as well as at the international level and works towards strengthening consumer protection through advocacy, lobbying, networking, representation, campaigning and education.

FOMCA was formed primarily to strengthen the growth and spread out the organized consumer movement in Malaysia. Resolving consumer issues and promotes the rights of consumers through purchasing power of consumers a "need-oriented" development that will ensure socio-economic justice and environmental quality of life for all.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR E-COMMERCE IN MALAYSIA

Several cyberlaws were enacted by MCMC, the Malaysian regulatory agency for the communications and multimedia industry. The Malaysian Government provides a comprehensive regulatory framework of cyberlaws and intellectual property laws to facilitate and assist the development of IT and e-commerce. In fulfilling this commitment, the Government has enacted laws such as the Digital Signature Act 1997, which provides an avenue for secure online transactions through the use of digital signatures; the Computer Crimes Act 1997; the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998; and has drafted the Personal Data Protection Act.

Digital Signature Act 1997 registered on October 1st, 1998 and generally applicable to all communications. This Act establishes the legal validity, enforceability and admissibility of digital signatures. It recognizes the repositories and authorizes the Minister to appoint the Controller of Certification Authorities. Additionally, the Act addresses the functions of certification authorities, the general requirements for a licensed certification authority, and the application procedures to become a licensed certification authority. This Act also subjects the licensed certification authorities to annual performance audits. Finally, the Act delineates requirements for the issuance, suspension and revocation of a certificate.

Computer Crimes Act 1997 (CCA) primarily makes unauthorized access to computers, programs, data and other IT information an offence. The offences are categorizes in the CCA as:

Unauthorized access to computer material;

Unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate further offence;

Unauthorized modification of the contents of any computer; and

misunderstand the communication means of access.

The Energy, Communications and Multimedia Ministry also announced on February 3, 2004, that the bills for the Electronic Government Activities Act (EGA) and the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) were in the final stages of completion and approval. The EGA provides legal framework for efficient and secure electronic government services by facilitating and enabling online government transactions between the public and government agencies. The ETA, finalized by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, together with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, targeted at boosting e-commerce by providing legal recognition of electronic transactions, including e-commerce transactions (Ibid).

In general, different laws, policies, and regulations related to regulating e-commerce and providing some protection to consumers in Malaysia have been identified. However, several inadequacies still need to be addressed and be examined further for their capabilities to ensure consumer protection in e-commerce transactions.