It has been well attested that consumer protection associations play a leading and effective role in defending the interests of the consumer public. The concept of consumer protection associations reflects an agreement aiming at achieving continuous cooperation between two or more people to use their activities or information for purposes other than profit distribution.
Having this in mind, The Ethiopian Herald had a stay with Mukemil Abdulfetah, an economist graduated from Addis Ababa University, to have a piece of information about the role of consumer associations and the dire need for having them.
He said, “Consumer protection associations form a pressure group on professionals through methods or ways to protect the collective interest of consumers, such as anti-advertising against projects that harm consumers or through boycotts of certain products or services. They also refuse to pay for products or services that are overpriced without prior notice.”
The positive strides have been well exercised ranging from direct engagement with consumers through complaints handling, to generating insights about the consumer experience through market research, to public interest litigation and consultations with policy-makers, he added.
As to Mukemil, a consumer association is a membership-based non-governmental non-profit body created to promote the interests of customers of goods and services, by disseminating information and lobbying for laws to protect consumers against producers or sellers.
Besides, he stated that consumer associations are groups that advocate for consumers’ rights and interests. They can educate consumers, represent them in legal proceedings, and influence government policy. These organizations can help consumers via educating consumers, which holds the idea of service as consumer associations provide information and advice to consumers through seminars, publications, and other materials.
According to Mukemil, these associations prettily represent consumers. Yes, they can represent consumers in court and in other legal proceedings as well as influence policy, as consumer associations can lobby for laws that protect consumers. Besides, they can help consumers make informed decisions by providing research and information as well as protecting the latter.
“Consumer associations can use social pressure to protect consumers, such as through boycotts and anti-advertising. To respond to the request stating, ‘How consumer associations are formed? Consumer associations are often non-governmental, non-profit organizations that are based on membership. They can be formed by citizens who want to advocate for the interests of consumers.”
The right to representation in decision-making related to consumers and the right to defend their interests through legally established Consumer Protection Associations are considered basic international consumer rights. Associations can generally be defined as an agreement aimed at achieving continuous cooperation between two or more individuals to use their activities or information for purposes other than distributing profits.
Consumer protection associations play important roles in defending the interests of the consumer public, as they have become part of collective pressure groups, especially on professionals, by encouraging them to respect the collective interest of consumers in their projects.
To carry out this mission, they adopt a range of methods, including raising awareness, counter-advertising, consumer boycotts, or payment boycotts.
This can be done by separating the roles and tasks of these associations from the Consumer Protection Council, which represents the official role of the state. Consumer protection associations should be granted an active role in receiving and verifying consumer complaints, working to remove their causes, and having the right to initiate all lawsuits related to consumer interests or intervene in them based on a written agency by at least two concerned consumers.
They should also have legal authority in price control, monitoring monopolistic practices, and raising consumer awareness of their rights through various media outlets. There is a need to establish consumer protection associations are by competent and dedicated individuals who are committed to achieving their assigned tasks. Consumer protection associations should hold workshops, conferences, studies, and research that educate the general public about their rights in their daily market transactions.
Consumer protection associations should have the right to legal assistance, especially those that suffer from financial constraints when defending consumer interests. Material and moral support should be provided to consumer protection associations to carry out their tasks, such as workshops that require significant financial resources in addition to human resources, and they should be encouraged to form national alliances.
Purchasing products and services online has become increasingly popular.
In particular, the authors are interested in how different stakeholders understand and agree upon the role of consumer associations in the governance of e-consumer protection. A contemporary governance model is introduced and used to design a study that examines factors that have the potential to influence cooperation among all governance sectors—government, business, and civil society.
Consumer associations are essential actors in the institutional frameworks for effective consumer protection. They represent the voice of the consumer and their overall participation in the policymaking processes that, in turn, help inform government policies. Consumers associations play vital roles in educating, advising, representing and counseling consumers so as to enforce their rights. They help reduce the imbalances between business and consumers by empowering consumers and giving them the confidence to make informed decisions.
At the same time, consumer associations are advocates for and represent those topics and needs of consumers at national levels. Interestingly, there is a convergence of basic needs and richer consumers as choice websites for energy services rapidly grow. Equally, there are echoes of the past as consumer cooperatives pool their resources in order to provide fuller services. It should also be taken into account that one of the principle problems of cooperatives for public policy in the past was how best to help non-members who often were the poorest sectors of society and, therefore, the most in need.
There are three areas of work that are particularly relevant for consumers associations worldwide. They are: (1) representing consumers’ interests; (2) designing and conducting education and information programs; and (3) providing support in order to enforce consumer protection laws as well as legal counsel, representation before court and dispute resolution.
Two primary functions of consumer organizations are: educating consumers about their rights and market choices and advocating for consumer protection by investigating and addressing complaints against businesses regarding unfair practices or faulty products; essentially, empowering consumers to make informed decisions and holding businesses accountable for their actions.
Consumer organizations often conduct awareness campaigns, workshops, and provide information to the public about their rights as consumers, how to compare products, identify misleading advertising, and understand important aspects of contracts or warranties.
They investigate consumer complaints against businesses, act as intermediaries to resolve disputes, and may even take legal action on behalf of consumers to address systemic issues or egregious cases of consumer exploitation. Consumer associations, or organizations, advocate for consumers by educating, representing, and lobbying for laws. They also work to protect consumers from unfair practices by businesses.
Functions Consumer associations aim at empowering consumers to make informed decisions, reducing imbalances between consumers and businesses, protecting consumers from unsafe products, predatory lending, and other corporate abuse, promoting consumer rights as part of human rights and protecting ethical business practices.
Consumer organization are a membership-based non-governmental non-profit body created to promote the interests of consumers of goods and services, by disseminating information and lobbying for laws to protect consumers against producers or sellers, who may usually be better organized or have more resources.
Citizens often gather together to form consumer associations on the basis of their recognition that: There is a need for an independent party which is non-political and non-commercial to voice the issues that impact consumers in a market economy.
There is a need for the views of the under-represented, i.e. the inarticulate and disadvantaged to be heard in order to address the disparity in bargaining power, knowledge and resources between consumers and business; and consumer associations would be an effective avenue to collectively exercise the civil rights of disadvantaged/vulnerable communities/groups or those with disabilities to be represented and heard before decisions affecting them are taken.
A majority of these actions involve inter alia educating consumers with a view to changing their attitudes and behavior, providing consumers with timely information about popular products and services and rendering some other related functions.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 9 MARCH 2025
