March 15 - World Consumer Rights Day

On Tuesday consumers arond the world will be celebrating World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD). This is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement. However, although we refer to this event every year in the local media, many Maltese and Gozitan consumers are not aware of it.

WCRD is a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers, to demand that our consumer rights are protected, and to protest against market abuses and social injustices which undermine our rights. The celebration of WCRD emanates from the late US President John F. Kennedy's declaration of the following four basic consumer rights:

The right to safety;

The right to be informed;

The right to choose; and

The right to be heard.

Subsequently, the consumer movement, through Consumers International (CI), added the following four rights:

The right to satisfaction of basic needs;

The right to redress;

The right to education; and

The right to a healthy environment.

On the basis of these eight rights, consumer groups all over the world work together in the interest of consumers. Indeed they provided a framework for strengthening national consumer protection policies.

Subsequently, with the UN's adoption of the guidelines, consumer rights were recognised internationally and acknowledged by developed and developing countries alike. However, consumer rights are still ignored or trivialised by various governments, traders and powerful interests worldwide.

Therefore it is up to us consumers to identify such violations and provide a platform to address them. In this spirit, consumer organisations around the world organise marches, rallies, seminars and workshops. They educate consumers by producing leaflets and publications. They also participate in radio and television programmes to educate and inform consumers.

Locally, the Information and Client Affairs Directorate in the Consumer and Competition Division, currently directed by Barbara Buttigieg, has been involved in these activities since 1994 when Joe Mallia, the first Consumer Affairs director, set up the department.

At the time Mr Mallia headhunted me to take charge of consumer education when, among other things, I originated the department's newsletter Fair Deal. In 1995 we took part in the US National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators International "Consumer Education" competition and won.

Genetically modified organisms

Among other things, WCRD initiatives are related to various issues and, this year, it is about the foods we eat, the medicines we take and the products we use at home. This year consumer groups worldwide are taking action on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in crops and foods, and how they limit the choices of farmers and consumers.

This will include campaigns by consumer groups taking action to demand that governments follow international safety standards, enact labelling legislation, and put into place liability agreements against potential damage caused by GMOs.

CI member organisations will lobby governments, and hold public meetings and street demonstrations to stop the spread of GMOs. They will demand labelling of all GM foods and independent safety testing. David Cuming, CI GMOs campaign manager, said:

"The insertion of GMOs into foodstuffs threatens fundamental consumer rights. Consumers International is concerned about GMOs because we have yet to see tangible benefits for consumers and farmers. We campaigned on this issue in the past and it remains at the top of the consumer agenda."

On Tuesday consumer organisations will campaign for labelling of all foods containing or derived from GMOs. They will demand that alternatives to GM foods remain widely available. Ways must be found to establish and secure GM-free areas, and strict rules introduced to prevent contamination of conventional and organic crops. All foods containing or derived from GMOs must be tested independently and subjected to international safety guidelines.

GMOs in Malta

In this context, it is very encouraging to note that, in Malta, we are moving in the right direction. Indeed as Dr Francis Agius, Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Agriculture and Fisheries, put it:

"We have organic farming growing in Malta and Gozo." Last Tuesday Dr Agius presented the first "Organic Farming" certificate to Mary and David Mallia. While bearing in mind that their forebears hardly ever used artificial fertilisers or similar products, the Mallias said that their farming plot had always been organic.

Another encouraging factor is that the average local consumers' orientation is in favour of organic farm produce with a willingness to pay a bit extra for it.