The National Assembly will consider the proposed Law on Consumer Protection in its seventh session in May. Bach Van Mung, director of the Competition Management Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, spoke about the legislation with Vietnam Law & Legal Forum.
What is new in the Bill on Protection of Consumers compared to the current Ordinance on Protection of Consumers?
The Ordinance on Protection of Consumers, enacted in 1999, was an important progress in consumer protection work, institutionalizing the State’s policy on this domain. However, it has revealed numerous limitations and become inappropriate in the present context.
Placing consumers on the disadvantaged side in the relationship with business organizations and individuals, the Bill on Protection of Consumers (the Bill) contains many new provisions to protect legitimate rights and interests of consumers, including the right to protect confidentiality of private information; protection of consumers before or during transactions with businesses; protection of consumers in consuming goods and using services, through prescribing the responsibility of goods sellers or service providers to pay damages even in case they are not at fault (responsibility for product); and the right of consumer protection organizations to institute lawsuits against businesses.
The Bill also has a whole chapter (Chapter VI) on methods for settling consumer-related disputes. The reality of consumer protection work shows that present methods for settling consumer-related disputes are too complicated and ineffective. Therefore, the Bill’s provisions on mechanisms for settling consumer-related disputes are expected to create a firm legal ground for consumers to protect their own legitimate rights and interests.
Transparency in rights and obligations of merchants has been considered a ground for protecting interests of businesses as well as consumers. How does the Bill dwell on this issue?
Rights and obligations of business organizations and individuals toward consumers are not only provided in the Bill but also governed by other relevant laws such as the Law on Product and Goods Quality, the Law on Competition, the Law on Intellectual Property and the Law on Standards and Technical Regulations. In other words, consumer protection must be based on the entire legal system, not only some specific regulations.
The Bill also specifies obligations of businesses toward consumers before and during their transactions and even in the use of goods or services. Such provision would help businesses become aware of their obligations and consumers of their rights and related state agencies properly perform the state management of consumer protection-related activities.
Many argue that the Bill should ensure the harmony between interests of producers and merchants and those of consumers. Do you consider the provisions on protection of interests of parties to a dispute in the course of settlement fair?
One of orientations for the elaboration of the Bill is to focus on protecting legitimate rights and interests of consumers and at the same time guaranteeing those of businesses. In some cases, consumer protection has been taken advantage of to take acts adversely affecting the prestige and brands of businesses. Therefore, apart from protecting consumer interests, the Bill provides for their obligations to guarantee legitimate rights and interests of businesses. In the course of drafting the Bill, the drafting committee collaborated with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in gathering comments of the business community on this issue and almost all asked business consider relevant provisions of the Bill appropriate and effective in protecting rights and interests of not only consumers but also honest businesses.-