Law Helps Chinese Consumers in Rights Protection

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 16, 2002

Law Helps Chinese Consumers in Rights Protection

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Liang Zhongqiao, 64, came all the way from suburban Beijing to the downtown area, to lodge a complaint about a mail-order peeler he had bought, called " Omnipotent Peeler Queen." The tool, as he demonstrated on the spot, can peel no more than one third of an apple, let alone potatoes as advertised in a newspaper.

"I am protesting not only for myself but also for all other consumers liable to be taken in by such fake ads," he told the China Consumers Association (CCA) and State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision (SBQTS), representatives of which were receiving complaints at open-air venues on Friday's International Consumer Protection Day.

They received complaints about a wide variety of goods, including pork, cashmere garments, mobile phones, home decorations and medical treatment.

The two organizations safeguard consumers' rights and interests by receiving and handling their complaints all year round.

"I've organized such annual activities for four years, and I am impressed by consumers' growing awareness of rights protection," said Sun Shihua, a senior official from SBQTS, "Last year's event attracted just a few consumers, but this year people have been lining up to bring us their complaints."

He said that consumers, informed of the activities by various media organs, all came with specific questions on legal procedures, and some brought the shoddy goods they had brought to show the consumer rights activists.

Bi Lian'e, a 63-year-old housewife who has been a loyal consumer of Wangzhihe fermented soy bean for many years, bought a Wangzhihe product for 3.5 yuan (about 0.42 US dollars), which she had found to be fake and brought it Friday to the experts. She said that she would claim compensation from the supermarket at which she had bought the product.

Such complaints, said Yu Shuisheng, president of the CCA, reflect the improvement of consumers' awareness of rights protection through legal channels, and will help to build a normal market system. In the past, people usually put up with fraudulent goods.

China's first law on protection of consumer rights began to take effect in 1994.

Yu also attributed the improvement to China's increasingly prosperous economy, and people having "more money in their pockets and more products to choose from".

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