Government urged to delay Consumer Protection Law

Government urged to delay Consumer Protection Law

JAKARTA (JP): Business associations urged the government on
Friday to delay the implementation of the Consumer Protection
Law, saying that most industries were not yet well prepared
enough for it.

Executive director of the Association of Indonesian Retailers
(APRINDO) Kustarjono Prodjolalito said it would take about three
years for the business community and consumers alike to prepare
themselves for the implementation of the law.

"Three years is about the minimum time for everybody to really
understand their rights and obligations," Kustarjono said.

The government plans to implement Consumer Protection Law
No.8/1999 by next month, one year after it was enacted by
legislators.

Kustarjono said the retail industry would need more time to
discuss the bill with producers to be able to implement the law
effectively.

For instance, he said, producers were responsible for the
quality of their products sold by retailers, while retailers'
responsibility was not to display expired products.

Kustarjono added the government should further familiarize
the law to consumers to avoid misperceptions that could lead to
unnecessary suits.

Regulations to support the law were also lacking, Kustarjono
said.

He said for example the law should be supported with a
regulation obliging producers to insure their products or
services so that consumers could get compensation for their
losses. However, thus far such a regulation was nonexistent.

The new law would guarantee consumers' rights to obtain
security and comfort when using or consuming products and
services, and honest information from the producers.

Violating the law could cause producers or traders to face a
maximum fine of Rp 2 billion (US$ 270,270) and prison terms of up
to five years.

The law would ban the printing on store receipts of the
statement: "Purchased good cannot be returned", as well as
misleading ads promoting products or services.

Thomas Darmawan, director of the Indonesian Food and Beverage
Association, said implementing the law would be especially
difficult for small-scale food vendors as the law required them
to attach labels to their products.

"You can't expect them to attach detailed labels on each item
they sell on the streets," Thomas said.

He said small business were financially not prepared to comply
with the law.

Thomas estimated two years would be enough to raise the
public's awareness of the law.

He said he planned to establish a Consumer Protection Law
Forum whose objective was to discuss the law and provide
suggestions to the government on ways to best implement it.

The forum, he said, would consist of members of the business
community, nongovernment organizations as well as government
officials.

Advisor to the domestic trade compartment of the Indonesian
Chamber of Industry and Trade, Hidayat, said delaying the
implementation of the law was reasonable as the Indonesian
business community was still struggling to recover from the
economic crisis.

He said the country's business community was already so busy
making preparations for the implementation of the Antimonopoly
Law, that it would be too burdensome for them to also prepare
themselves for the implementation of the Consumer Protection Law.

Nevertheless, he doubted that the government would delay the
implementation of the bill.

According to him, implementing the bill would make the
government and legislators appear to be protecting the interests
of consumers.(bkm)