Take your purchasing woes to the
Consumer Affairs Authority

Chairperson - Sita wimalasena, Director General - Kithsiri Gunawardena and Member T. M. S. Nanayakkara

By Ranee Mohamed 

When the poor woman from Ragama gave a tablespoon of surgical spirit to her 10 year old daughter instead of the Phenagan that was prescribed, she had no way of bringing the errant pharmacist to book.

Though her daughter was hospitalised, the mother was determined to turn the spotlight on the 'pharmacist' who gave her the wrong medication. It was then that she heard of the Consumer Affairs Authority. And this was exactly what the dynamic Chairperson of the Authority, Sita Wimalasena was looking out for - that section of society which causes distress to the consumer.

By then the Consumer Affairs Authority championed by Minister Ravi Karunanayake was in full force, - the Consumer Affairs Authority Act was passed in parliament on January 9, 2004 and it came into force when seven monts later, it was certified on March 17, 2003. In October 2003 its work was reaching gigantic proportions from its office in Rotunda Towers, Colombo 3.

"After the Fair Trading Commission Act was repealed, the functions of the Internal Trade Department and the Fair Trading Commission were amalgamated," explained Director General, Consumer Affairs Authority Kithsiri Gunawardena.

With more teeth and more provisions, the authority has today become the consumer's policeman, waiting to raid on errant traders who do not price mark their goods,sell inferior quality goods and destroy the basic expectations that a consumer has when he/she makes a purchase.

The functions of the authority include the elimination or control of restrictive trade agreements among enterprises, abolish abuse of a dominant position with regard to domestic trade or economic development within the market or in a substantial part of the market, restrain competition adversely affecting domestic and international trade or economic development, investigate into anti-competitive practices and abuse of a dominant position, promote and protect the rights and interests of consumers in respect of price, availability and quality of goods and services made available for purchase, and carry out investigations and inquiries in relation to any matter specified in the act.

Offences under the act include the failure to label and price mark goods, altering, obliterating, erasing or defacing of a label or description of  goods and producing such goods for sale is also a grave offence under this act. Sale of goods above the maximum price where prices have been fixed or marked is also an offence.

Strong action

The authority will also act strongly on complaints about manufacturing and selling of goods which fail to comply with the stipulated standard and quality, refusing to sell goods in possession, denial of goods in possession and imposing conditions on the consumer upon purchase.

In short, any trader or supplier who violates the pledge given on the price of any goods or services can be brought before the Consumer Affairs Authority.

"Every item needs to have a price marking, a batch number and an expiry date," explained Sita Wimalasena.

Chairperson, Wimalsena has received over 600 complaints to date of which she has solved 180 cases. "About 80% of these complaints are from the provinces," said Wimalasena. The authority has received complaints varying from badly made shoes to malfunctioning paddy crushing machines, televisions, radios and biscuits that do not crunch. "It is very heartening to note that these people from the provinces are prompt with their 'thank you letters' once their problems are solved," explained Wimalasena.

Complainants are required to make a complaint in person. The authority, which files these complaints takes immediate action by writing to the trader in question, attaching a copy of the complaint. An inquiry is called for and a settlement is opted for, though the authority is empowered with resorting to legal action.

Making its way into every kind of  'sale' the authority has taken action on land sales and unbalanced weights and measurements.

The authority recently received a complaint from a consumer saying that the rosa kekulu (pink rice) that he bought was losing its colour when washed. "On a closer look we discovered that the trade had coloured the rice. We obtained the necessary reports from the government analyst which confirmed that the trader had coloured the rice. The rice was being sold at a higher price and we took action," said Chairperson Wimalasena.

In another instance the Consumer Affairs Authority successfully settled a deal amounting to approximately Rs.2.5 million. A private school had purchased an elevator for this amount of money but the lift left the school authorities feeling very down. It was then that the Consumer Affairs Authority stepped in and lifted the spirits of the school and its thousands of children, by ensuring that the trader gave the school a lift that really moved.

Making things move is an everyday happening at the authority which comes under the purview of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake. From settling issues as coloured rosa kekulu to financing BMWs, the Authority has proved it can handle them with equal ease.

"We are unbiased," agreed Wimalasena, Director General Kithsiri Gunawardena and full time member T.M.S. Nanayakkara. The Authority does not merely limit its activities to its officers. "We have over 30 investigators and this team consists of boys and girls who are trained to be on the alert for offending traders," said Nanayakkara.

In full swing

In full swing, the Consumer Affairs Authority appears to be a roaring success with the consumers, the people who truly matter to the authority. It is heartening to note that when it comes to complaints, the authority will 'buy' anything. Be it a super luxury store or a mega super market, the consumer need not be overawed, for the authority is not moved by the glitz and glitter of the giants, - offences remain the same and inquiries as probing and as revealing as can be.

So far it is learnt that over 68 volunteer consumer groups have banded to protect themselves from the various ills in the market today.

There are files at the authority which hold the tears of the common man - in them are pleas about unrealistic hospital bills with no breakdown of the charges and about giving good money for bad food.

There  is also very hungry complaints about food portions at certain Chinese restaurants being too small. The authority has developed a headache as rival balm manufacturers under the various 'lepas' have complained against each other claiming one lepa having the identical colour, smell and look of the other.

Consumers have been taking the authority to areas it has hitherto not imagined. Sita Wimalasena and her team have no qualms about straightening out crossed wires between giant establishments as the SLT or mobile telephone companies and that small person called the consumer whose voice is barely heard.

"We have also received many complaints about inferior electrical and electronic goods," said Wimalasena.

"When someone sells an item or service the implication is that you can make use of the product for which it is bought," pointed out Kithsiri Gunewardena. He warned consumers to be aware of the warranty and ensure that they read the  small print to find out if the warranty is valid only in a certain country. "Sometimes the big letters say 'warranty' but this warranty may be only for a small part in the item purchased," he pointed out.

The Consumer Affairs Authority  now in force is not a lazy window shopper - it scrutinises errant traders with a hawk eye. So far all complaints that have been lodged with the authority have been dealt with promptly. The consumer who wrote about the milk food that promised to be 'instant' got the instant action of the authority, when the manufacturers were immediately summoned and a hurriedly purchased packet of this milk food set before the table and mixed to see its 'instant' results. When the promised results did not materialise, things began to turn sour for the manufacturers.

Such is the enthusiasm of the authority that when a young man complained from the provinces that when he had problems with his kattadiya, the authority stepped in to break the spell. This young man whose wife had left him claimed that a kattadiya in the area charged him Rs.25,000 for various strains of black magic, promising to bring the woman back. The wife did not come back and the man wrote to the Consumer Affairs Authority, and with the Authority's determination, it is now the kattadiya who is spellbound.

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