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Consumer Policy for Trinidad and Tobago
PRINCIPLES AND PRIORITIES OF CONSUMER POLICY:
B. PROMOTION AND PROTECTION 0F CONSUMER ECONOMIC INTERESTS
- Principles
- Purchasers of goods and services should be protected against the abuse of power by the seller, in particular, against standard contracts biased in favour of the seller, the unfair exclusion of essential rights in contracts, harsh conditions of credit, demands for payment for unsolicited goods and against high-pressure selling methods, against middle operators and parallel marketing;
- The consumer should be protected against defective products or unsatisfactory services;
- The presentation and promotion of goods and services including financial services, should not be designed to mislead either directly or indirectly, the person to whom they are offered or by whom they have been requested;
- No form of advertising - visual or aural - should mislead the potential buyer of a product or service. An advertiser in any medium should be able to justify, by appropriate means, the validity of any claim that is made;
- All information provided on labels at the point of sale or in advertisements must be accurate, written in the English Language and be legible;
- The implementation by business, in cooperation with government organizations, of codes of marketing and other business practices to ensure adequate consumer protection will be facilitated;
- All items offered for sale, including those on hire purchase, must have the final cost price displayed;
- Full disclosure as to the total cost of the item should be made for all transactions;
- Consumers should be protected from the adverse effects of monopolies and price-fixing cartels.
- Priorities
- To review the general conditions of consumer credit, including those relating to hire purchase, mortgage bills of sale and promissory notes;
- To protect the consumer against false or misleading advertising:
- by establishing principles for assessing the extent to which an advertisement is false, misleading or generally unfair;
- by taking steps to safeguard the economic interests of consumers from false, misleading or unfair advertising;
- by adopting methods to end rapidly deceptive or misleading advertising campaigns and ensuring that advertisers claims are valid;
- by implementing measures which will counteract the effects of false or misleading advertising for example, by publishing corrective advertising.
- To improve the range and quality of services provided for consumers, and focus on the need to have qualified and licensed technical personnel offering these services;
- To protect consumers from unfair commercial practices in the following areas:
- skilled trade services;
- services of repairs;
- installation and rebuilding;
- educational services (not governed under the Education Act);
- insurance;
- tour operators;
- airlines;
- conditions in guarantees, particularly for consumer durables;
- vendors;
- unsolicited goods and services;
- real estate;
- banking services, charges and disclosure statements;
- toys;
- medical services;
- legal services.
- To foster the establishment of trade associations to ensure adherence to adequate codes of practice. The principal aims of such codes of practice should be as follows:
- to improve the standard of quality and service offered to the public;
- to provide consumers with proper information about specific items;
- to encourage staff framing; and
- to provide a speedy and efficient complaints system including the establishment of Testing Centres where applicable.
- To liaise with the Monopolies Commission, when established, to ensure that consumers are protected from monopolies and price fixing cartels;
- To ensure that weighing and measuring devices should be accurate and conform to international standards;
- To ensure that suppliers of imported consumer durables carry an adequate ongoing stock of spares and have technical competence to effect speedy repairs.
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