Consumer Knowledge – Consumer Organisations – Intermediate
Information about getting Help and Advice
There is always a risk when buying good and services, that you may encounter problems, even if you have carefully thought about your purchase.
There is a range of organisations that work towards protecting the interests of consumers and these are considered below at a Local, National and European level.
The work of Local Government
Local Government is usually taken to refer to the administration of public affairs in a specific local area, by elected members of a local council. Although subject to central government in many ways, local authorities possess a considerable amount of responsibility and discretionary power.
Local government has a number of functions:
Local Government has a political/representative role and it also has an administrative role.
Services provided by Local Government
It is important for local people to be aware of the administrative role of their own local Council, so that they know what they can expect and where to go if they have a problem.
Below is a list of services carried out by Local Authorities. You may find that they have different Departmental names in your own local area, however, the underlying principals of the services that they provide are the same:
1) Personal Services
These are services that seek to enhance personal welfare.
2) Amenity Services
These are services provided for leisure purposes and might include the maintenance of museums, art galleries, playgrounds and parks.
3) Protective Services
The provision of protective services is aimed at protecting local people from various dangers
4) Environmental Services
These Services control and improve the environment for everyone
Local Government helping the Consumer
Your local Council will have a Trading Standards Service, which enforces a wide range of legislation to protect the consumer and to ensure that businesses compete on a "level playing field".
The work of the Trading Standards Department can be divided into 3 main areas:
1) Enforcement
As well as the Weights and Measures Act 1985, there are also other Acts that place a duty of enforcement upon local authorities and it is therefore mandatory that they are enforced.
Examples
Officers from Trading Standards regularly inspect local shops, importers and manufactures to ensure that they are complying with their obligations under the legislation. Where a trader is found to be breaking the law, the Officer has the power to caution or prosecute.
There are also a number of permissive pieces of legislation, which a local authority chooses to enforce, even though they are not obliged to do so.
Examples of this are listed below
2) Complaints and Advice
With the ever increasing range of goods and services combined with the amount of legislation that covers them, life can be complicated for both consumers and traders. For this reason, the majority of Trading Standards Departments will run a Helpline and most Trading Standards helplines can be used:
Officers will investigate criminal complaints made against traders in their locality and they will also give advice and send out leaflets on a range of other consumer matters.
3) Education
Trading Standards receives so many complaints every year that demonstrate how consumers and traders are often not aware of their legal rights and responsibilities. It has been recognised that many of these could have been avoided if consumers and traders receive adequate education on the subject.
Trading Standards staff work hard on projects like 'Ask Cedric' to ensure that as many people as possible are taught about their rights and responsibilities.
The work of Central Government
This Country has a set of laws that state how the Country should be governed, set standards for personal behaviour and procedures for handling personal disputes.
All societies have to make these policy choices, confront problems, resolve conflicts, handle disagreements, decide who gets what and how. Someone has to make decisions in order that the Country can function properly and this is why politics and politicians are important.
The governance of a modern society is a huge task and at the heart of the British political process is the Government of the day (headed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet).
The Government is itself responsible to Parliament, which is composed of representatives of the people elected by popular vote. This set up could collectively be described as 'Central Government'.
As Central Government is such a huge and complex business, most countries find it necessary to arrange for some services to be provided and decisions to be made locally and away from the centre.
Generally, the role of central government in consumer protection is to promote legislative policy, oversee the implementation of legislation and oversee the work of various government agencies. Very often the actual enforcement of legislation is left to local authorities.
Department of Trade and Industry
The Secretary of State for this Department is responsible for policy and legislation on consumer affairs, including trading standards, fair trading, weights and measures, consumer credit and consumer safety.
Office of Fair Trading
This is a government agency. It is the administrative headquarters from which the Chairman of the Board of the Office of Fair Trading, who is appointed by the Secretary of State for Trade exercises his various statutory responsibilities in connection with consumer protection, consumer credit and anti-competitive practices. The OFT, in addition, exercises important functions relating to consumer advice by publishing various informative leaflets and booklets.
The work of the European Union
On 1 January, 1973, the United Kingdom became a member of the European Economic Community (now called the European Union). Now, years later, the debates are still going on:- Was it such a good idea? Does it bring any real benefits? Have we gained anything or have we lost out? Why join in the first place?
It is necessary for us to consider what membership of the EU means and how it affects our everyday lives. It is also important to examine the history of its creation and look at the reasons for setting up the so-called Common Market.
Europe after the Second World War
In 1945, the Second World War ended and all over Europe cities lay in ruins. Millions had died in the fighting and millions more were homeless. Industry was at a standstill and the people looked to their political leaders to help them rebuild their shattered lives. One thing was agreed upon; no-one wanted another war.
The Treaty of Rome
In 1957 six countries - Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome, which aimed at bringing these countries into close unity.
These 6 countries also believed that it was important to trade freely in order to make it easier for goods to move between Member States. This meant doing away with customs duties that not only put up the prices of goods but also delayed their transportation.
They wanted to break down trading barriers like this so that manufacturers or producers in one EU country could sell their goods within any one of the others as easily as they could within their own.
However, although the Community is now free of import duties, there are still some restrictions that prevent the truly free market that the original six countries wanted.
It wasn't only goods that these founder members felt should be allowed to move freely. They believed that people should be allowed to move around freely too. It would mean that they would be able to share ideas and expertise - and have a greater choice of jobs and more opportunities for work.
Above all, the founder members of the "Common Market" wanted their governments to have common policies so that they would all plan things in similar ways. They believed that this was particularly important in key areas of the economy, such as agriculture, industry and trade with the rest of the world.
Since 1957 membership of the European Union has grown and after joining in 1973, the United Kingdom is one of 25 member states.
The ideas and aims set out in the Treaty of Rome have not been completely achieved yet. Many people doubt that they ever will be because different governments have very different ideas about how they should run their countries. It is difficult enough to run one country; so it is even harder when twenty five are involved.
In order to share in the benefits of belonging to the Community we have had to be prepared to compromise as some decisions that affect our lives are made within other EU countries.
There are five institutions involved in running the European Union:
These institutions are supported by other bodies:
The European Union helping the Consumer
In 1975, the Community produced a plan of action to help consumers. It listed five basic rights that it felt that consumers must have. They are:-
* The right to protection of health and safety - This means, amongst other things, that goods and services offered to consumers must not harm them or put their health in danger.
* The right to protection of economic interests - People who buy goods and services should be protected against sellers cheating (through misleading advertisements, unfair contracts or credit agreements) and against defective products or unsatisfactory services.
* The right to redress - Consumers should receive advice and help if they have been injured or suffered loss because of faulty goods or unsatisfactory services. They should also be compensated fairly and quickly.
* The right to information and education - Consumers need to be given enough information about goods and services so that they can choose wisely.
* The right of representation (the right to be heard) - Consumers should be consulted when decisions that concern them are prepared
Other Consumer Organisations
There are a number of independent organisations that have been set up to help consumers. These were considered in detail in Consumer Organisations (Level 1). If you would like to see this information, please click here.
Links to other Consumer Organisations are underneath the button on the left of this page.