The event

     Head of states chairs cabinet meeting on                         consumer protection

        President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, on Friday January 21, chaired a cabinet meeting on means likely to promote the consumer protection apparatus, in materialisation of the targets of the electoral programme in the field.

        The President Ben Ali underscored the importance he grants to the protection of the consumer and the consolidation of his fundamental rights, highlighting the need to reinforce the gains accomplished for the Tunisian society, notably in terms of improvement of the quality of life and adaptation of legislation to the current changes.

        The President of Republic ordered to reinforce the legal framework, notably by the promulgation of two laws related to food products and the quality and safety of industrial products and by compiling all economic laws into one code.

        Given the importance of the elements of quality and security in consumer protection, the meeting decided to:
            - Reinforce control-quality at the level of imports, production and distribution.
            - Vitalise the internal control of the safety of products within production and distribution firms and create a cell entrusted with following up the evolution of this mechanism.
In terms of reinforcement of the control structure, the meeting decided to :
            - Create a national metrology agency gathering all concerned services.
            - Boost the human and material resources of the economic control apparatus.

        In order to further vitalise competition on the domestic market, given it’s positive repercussions on quality and the level of prices, the meeting decided to :
            - Reinforce the human and material resources of competition structures.
            - Review specifications in order to make the various activities easier.
            - Help totally exporting firms market a complementary set of their production within the limit of the authorised 30 pc.
      
        The meeting also took measures aimed at further rationalising consumption, through sensitisation, training and reinforcement of transparency and advertising.

        Furthermore, the meeting decided the creation of a National Institute of Consumption to be tasked with carrying out studies and researches related to quality and consumption as well as comparative analyses.

        President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali recommended to follow up the developments related to consumer protection, speed up the achievement of the study on families’ debts and improve information on consumer’s health and security by vitalising his role in matters of self-protection.

        Besides, the head of state underscored the need to grant necessary attention to the control of prices in accordance with the targets of the electoral programme in order to preserve the citizens’ buying power.

The Summit of the Information Society :

An opportunity to promote the consumer’s power and to generalize prosperity

Holding the second phase of the world  summit of the information society in Tunis constitutes an international event of a wide range which draws the attention of the international community, taking into consideration, the challenges and the stakes that are covered for the creation of a world granting to everybody equal opportunities for the scientific and technological development .

   The processing of the digital gap, the governance of internet and the establishment of new regulations for the information circulation, constitute the major concerns of this summit.

             No doubt that the consumer is concerned with the summit, being an actor allowed to benefit from information open to facilitate his life, reinforce the liberty of choice, realize personal gains, which consolidates his individual interests and his position within the community.

  Indeed, the web offers to the consumer a big range of products that enables him to compare the ratio of value for money, which enlarges his ability to make the best choice and assure him the necessary guarantees in the frame of the e-commerce legislation recently developed by a certain number of countries such as Tunisia.

  It is fundamental that these legislations respond to the expectations of the consumer and respect his rights so that the e-commerce gets developed with the intensity required at national and international levels and benefits from the support and the preference of the consumer.

  Nevertheless,  the promotion of the e-commerce shall not conceal the arising problems from which we may mention, in unrestrictive way, the promotion of new products that do not benefit from the approval of all consumers, such as the Genetically  Modified Organisms  ( GMO )  . This requires taking care and being cautious because of the lack of clear and transparent information regarding these products
            Moreover, the web carries several waves of advertising that influence the choices of the consumer; the latter is usually unable to separate the right from the wrong and to distinguish the honest from the misleading advertising. This necessitates establishing parapets enabling to reduce and avoid skids.

The blooming of the e-commerce, together with the development and the diversification of the consumption can, however, alter the budgets equilibrium and thwart the national effort aiming to control the consumption and keep it at reasonable levels especially in developing countries  .

The internet and, in general, the digital culture brings to the consumer huge facilities in his daily relations with the all-out development of at a distance services i.e. getting administrative documents,  payment  of  consumption  bills  ( Electricity, Water, Telephone etc . ), management of bank accounts, settlement of purchases, e-learning . This enables saving time, reducing sensibly movements and traveling and consequently realizing substantial economy of expenses.

In this context, the Tunisian Consumer Defence Organization, as far as it draws the attention of the public to the flaws that still persist at the level of daily relations with the web, it is conscious of all the advantages that the web grants provided that the legislation be the principal guarantee, assuring the transparency and the legitimacy of the relationships. Our organization considers the Tunis summit as an opportunity to reiterate the wish that the new technologies be within everybody’s reach, without any exclusion or marginalization, and that the efforts coincide towards a possible and feasible economic model likely to achieve the world goals traced for the development . It urges the consumer organizations all over the world and particularly Consumers International ( C I ) to close ranks and participate more intensely and concretely  on jurisdiction’s elaboration for the protection of consumer’s rights mainly regarding the e – commerce.

  It works to reinforce the international cooperation to intensify flaws and exchanges in this field and strengthen the consumer’s trust.  

The digital gap is in fact a development gap. It is then essential to find the methods and mobilize the funds to assure the basic infrastructure and develop the human resources liable to assure the expansion of knowledge technologies so as to respond to the aspirations of all the globe inhabitants without exception.