Consumers and businesses alike are adjusting to government preparedness plans against the coronavirus disease.
The two-month State of Emergency (SoE) extension has pushed many issues to the forefront.
One of them is outdated penalties for breach of laws meant to protect consumers.
Public reaction to the government’s declaration of a State of Emergency was twofold from the economic standpoint, panic buying and mild chaos across the nation but also an upsurge in the costs of goods and services.
Founder of the PNG Consumer Advocacy Network, Des Yaninen says what citizens are unaware of is that there are a number of laws in place to protect consumers in PNG. To name a few, laws such as the ICCC Act 2002, the Public Health Act 1973, the Advertising Act 1976, and the Packaging Act 1974.
“It specifies the kind of packaging and labelling that should be on the products that we purchase from the shops. For example, they have to be in a language that is readable; they have to be either in Pidgin, in Motu or English,” Yaninen clarified.
“You can’t have a product sitting on the shelves in this country and the writing is all foreign. So that’s actually not allowed under the Packaging Act of 1974.”
Whilst we are ignorant of the rights that come under these Acts, the flipside is that the penalties and fines are so outdated, the laws are failing in effectively holding businesses responsible.
“The sad thing is that because the Act is from 1974, the penalties are only between 200 and 400 kina. Because the act is almost 50 years old, the penalties are also outdated,” Yaninen stated.
“We’re looking at a whole range of laws and fines and penalties now that are outdated and really, the government has to look at increasing these penalties to make them relevant. K200 fifty years ago would be the equivalent to say K5,000 today.”
Yaninen says the age of social media has given Papua New Guinean consumers a voice. Reiterating average Papua New Guineans must know their rights as a consumer and know what actions to take, as and when these rights are taken away from them.
“When you go to the shop and you buy something and then you want a refund and they point you away to the sign that says, ‘Please Choose Carefully – No Refunds Allowed’, it’s actually your constitutional right to ask for a refund.
“You have the right to redress which means when something is bad, you can ask for a refund, you can ask for a replacement if the product is damaged, you can ask them to repair the product.”
(Des Yaninen – Founder, PNG Consumer Advocacy Network)