I was honored that Laban KonsyumerInc. (LKI) participated in the 3rd Consultation with the ASEAN Consumer Associations Network (ACAN) upon the nomination of the Department of Trade and Industry.
One of the main topics was emerging consumer protection issues post-COVID-19. The session sets the stagefor the discussion on the changes brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, how they are impacting consumers, and what policy responses or innovative approaches are currently being deliberated in international fora and networks.
The ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP) was established in 2007, and is endorsed by the Asean Economic Ministers or AEM. ACAN was establishedin 2018. ACCP focuses on promoting exchange of information and experience on consumer policies and laws and practices among and between Asean Member States (AMS.). It encourages the development and implementation of effective consumer laws and policies. It also empowers ASEAN consumers through the provision of accurate information viaonline knowledge centers and holds regular stakeholder engagements or consultations.
The session tackled the status of consumer protection in ASEAN, and principal consumer protection laws. One of the biggest achievements of the regional cooperation was the enactment and existence of consumer protection laws in all of AMS after Ru Myanmar and Cambodia enacted their consumer laws in 2019.
It was discussed that the ASEAN strategic action plan for consumer protection (ASAPCP 2021-2025) would contain the 4 strategic goals, 11 outcomes, and 19 initiatives. It would include a common ASEAN protection framework, a high common level of consumer empowerment and protection, a high consumer confidence in AEC and cross border commercial transactions, and streamlining consumer concerns in all ASEAN policies.
The strategy focuses on the establishment of a common framework on consumer protection for the whole ASEAN region in the long run. This should be based on the existence and effective implementation of modern and comprehensive consumer policies, laws and regulations in all member states. It is expected that remaining differences amongst the legal systems and institutions protecting consumers in AMS would be gradually bridged while commonalities and similarities fostered, in line with a set of high-level principles and through a regional peer review mechanism on consumer protection. A common ASEAN consumer protection framework would lead to increased predictability and confidence, boosting trade and investment while protecting consumers within and across borders.
Among the completed deliverables reported were these: the ASEAN Regional Information Campaign on Online Shopping risk, redress mechanism and deceptive advertisement 2020 video, the ASEAN Capacity Building Roadmap for consumer protection 2020, the ASEAN Product Recall and alert website, the handbook on ASEAN consumer protection laws and regulations, 2018 to revise 2021, the guidelines on cross border B2C complaints 2020, and the code of conduct for online businesses in 2020.
The challenges of the digital economy to consumer protection that were tackled in the session included manipulation, awareness, online fraud, regional enforcement, cross border redress, lack of redress and the regional cooperation, data privacy, portability, and interoperability at the center of it all.
The long-term directions that were raised were to enhance awareness and compliance among businesses for functional regional cooperation, mechanism of enforcement, and online dispute resolution mechanism. Convergence and soft-harmonization of practices were also brought up, as well as the harmonization of laws like e-commerce.
Of note, The ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP) launched at the start of the year the Report of ASEAN Consumer Empowerment Index 2020 Pilot Project (ACEI 2020), as envisioned under the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for Consumer Protection 2016-2025.
The ACEI is a composite index calculated on a country level based on questionnaire-styled surveys, in order to benchmark the national level of consumer empowerment in each ASEAN Member State (AMS), against that of the entire region.
It is based on a set of key indicators which are equally weighted and grouped into three main components: Consumer Awareness; Consumer Skills; and Consumer Behavior. The regional index is calculated as the weighted average of the ten country scores, in accordance with the percentage of national sample size to total regional sample.
A total of 7,185 respondents across all Member States took part in the survey, categorized according to four criteria namely; gender, location, age and education. The study acknowledged that due to limited resources, it was not possible for the pilot project to go for a full representative sample.
The next challenge of consumer associations in the region is the formation of federation of private consumer associations in each memberstate into a Council or Federation, as in Malaysia and Thailand. These are partly funded by the government agencies of the Member States. This development will strengthen the voices of consumers in consumer welfare issues in each Member State.
I look forward to the fruition of all these good initiatives!
Atty. Vic Dimagiba,AB, LLB LLM
President Laban Konsyumer Inc.
Email at [email protected]