JOIN USCivil societies across the globe need to join hands to ensure consumer protection and a consumer interpol and global consumer laws will help achieving the goal, said Bell who delivered a lecture on Consumer Protection in a Globalised Economy in Bangalore on Wednesday. Bell, who represents Consumers Union, an independent organisation working for fair, just and safe marketplace for consumers said his organisation has state-of-art labs to conduct tests on products including from automobile, electronocs, home products, health and finance sectors, released to market.
On an average 3,000 products are put to test in a year and the test reports are published by the organisation, he said.
Bell said in 2008, 563 products were recalled from the market following the reports by the organisation. Many civil societies across the globe had been into similar activities to ensure protection for consumers.
A few organisation had been making efforts for global consumer laws and consumer interpol. As of now internet is the tool available to disseminate information about faulty goods.
Bell suggested governments fix domestic standards of every product and ensure that manufacturers adhere to the standards. Awareness among the public on standards of products would compel the manufacturers to meet the standards, he added
Karnataka State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission Chairman Justice K Ramanna said complaints related to financial matters and real estate had been increasing in the recent days. The companies promise high benefits while attracting the consumers, but fail to keep the words. In Bangalore, the cases related to the real estate are more, he said.