by Irene Wijaya | Feb 8, 2017 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: Ongoing. This project supports implementation of the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on Consumer Protection 2016-2025 (ASAPCP). It is in line with the need to develop a common ASEAN Consumer Protection Framework, which is Goal 1 in the ASAPCP. While this project will not support the establishment of the framework itself, it will address urgent legal, capacity and awareness gaps that hinder AMS from establishing such framework. Outputs produced through this project include: The ASEAN High Level Principles for Consumer Protection (AHLP) provides direction for a broad framework on consumer protection for ASEAN. The Principles also provide a consistent context for ASEAN laws and arrangements and, in so doing, promote a common base level of cooperation and exchange of experiences and best practices. The AHLP was adopted in 2017; Teaching Tools to Apply Good Consumer Protection Practices in 6 Priority Sectors, namely: Consumer Credit & Banking; E-Commerce; Environment; Health Care; Product Safety and Labeling; and Professional Services. The teaching tools was completed in 2018; Capacity Building Road Map 2020-2025; and ASEAN Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Guidelines. Related projects: Developing the ASEAN Post-2015 Consumer Protection Action Plan: Meeting the Challenges of a People-Centered ASEAN Beyond 2015 Strengthening Technical Competency for Consumer Protection in...
by Kaisar | Apr 20, 2015 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: completed. Consumer protection in the ASEAN region is important for the smooth functioning of an integrated market. Consumer protection is seen to benefit consumers by ensuring that they have the right of access to adequate information to enable them to make informed choices about the products and services that they procure; there are adequate mechanisms in place that promote product safety; and effective complaint and redress mechanisms in cases of complaints. Meeting these needs could be facilitated by effective and operational consumer protection laws and mechanisms. The focus of the ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection’s (ACCP) work during the period 2011-2015 has been on ensuring that consumer legislation in ASEAN Member States (AMS) is in place; enhancing consumer access to information by developing a notification and information exchange mechanism for recalled/banned products; developing models for cross border consumer redress mechanism; strengthening the capacity of consumer protection officials and enhancing advocacy of consumer protection. However, as AEC 2015 approaches, there is a need to undertake a study to assess the current progress of the action plans in terms of advancing the focus areas and draw up a new Strategic ASEAN Action Plan on Consumer Protection (SAAPCP) covering the period 2016-2025 (following a decision of the High-Level Task Force on Economic Integration). ASEAN is working on a post-2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) vision that envisages a 10-year framework (AEC 2025) that promotes an integrated and highly cohesive economy that is competitive, innovative and dynamic. This project produced an assessment report providing a view of the ASEAN economic landscape in the next ten years, including consumer trends, spending patterns that would have...
by Kaisar | Feb 9, 2015 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: Completed. Consumer education can be done through both formal and non-formal mechanisms. In some countries, consumer education has been integrated into the formal school curriculum. However in most of the ASEAN Member States, consumer awareness and education programs are mainly implemented on a non-formal basis. Governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as private sector organisations whose activities have an impact on consumers should incorporate strong consumer awareness and education programs. The programs should ideally be placed within a larger national consumer education program, and overseen by government institution(s) responsible for consumer protection in the ASEAN Member State. This project aims to provide the responsible government institution(s) with advice on how to design, implement, monitor and evaluate a national consumer education program. The project will a) identify best practices, and b) develop models with clear parameters to guide the subsequent adoption of a specific model by ASEAN Member States. Adoption of a model for establishing a national strategy will be entrusted to a national agency responsible to oversee its implementation. The project was closed in 2016. It produced a policy brief, a report on Awareness and Education Models for Consumer Protection, and Guidelines for AMS in the selection of the most appropriate models. Click here to...
by Kaisar | Feb 9, 2015 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: Completed. Under the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection, governments should establish or maintain legal and administrative measures to enable consumers or, as appropriate, relevant organisations, to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. In particular, such procedures should take into account the needs of low-income consumers. Governments should also encourage all enterprises to resolve consumer disputes in a fair, expeditious and informal manner, and to establish voluntary mechanisms, including advisory services and informal complaints procedures, which can provide assistance to consumers. Last but not least, information on the existing redress mechanism and procedures should be made available to consumers. To be able to do this, personnel of government agencies involved in consumer protection require specific expertise and knowledge in the workings of consumer protection mechanisms. This project aims to strengthen capacity of government agency personnel through the design, development and delivery of training programs on specific technical skills within 6 core areas (product safety and labeling, phone and internet services and e-commerce, consumer credit and banking, environment, healthcare services, professional services) as well as soft skills required to facilitate customer redress. Technical documents have been produced for each core area, and training for trainer were conducted for government staff of relevant ministries in each ASEAN Member States. Download the materials...
by Kaisar | Feb 9, 2015 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: Completed. Consumer protection requires consumers to have the ability to right the wrongs or to prevent future abuses. This requires access to an effective redress and complaint mechanism. According to data collected through the Road-mapping Capacity Building Needs in Consumer Protection in ASEAN project, only a handful of ASEAN Member States have put in place an effective redress and complaint mechanisms for consumers. In other ASEAN Member States, redress and complaint mechanism are not yet fully responsive. Due to the disparity, there is yet an effective regional or cross-border regional redress mechanism. This project aims to formulate models for a redress and complaint mechanisms that can be considered, adopted and implemented by ASEAN Member States based on the specific ASEAN Member States context. The project will identify best practices in setting up, implementing and enforcing redress and complaint mechanism from ASEAN Member States and other countries as appropriate, and develop models with clear parameters to guide the subsequent adoption of a specific model by ASEAN Member States. The models will be customised and phased to cater to the general ASEAN Member States and the sub-group countries. The models will serve as a reference to set up or enhance redress mechanisms at the national level, and provide an integrated basis for subsequently establishing an effective regional redress mechanism. This project has been completed in 2013. Results of this project can be downloaded below: Models for Internal Complaint Systems and External Consumer Redress Schemes in ASEAN Guidelines for the Selection and Implementation of Complaint and Redress Models ...
by Kaisar | Feb 9, 2015 | Consumer Protection, Projects
Status: Completed. This project focuses on identifying areas in ASEAN Member States that need to be strengthened in terms of the planning, development and implementation of consumer protection programs and the preparation of a capacity building roadmap. Best practices of those ASEAN Member States with consumer protection laws in place and related initiatives were compiled and documented. In addition, the study identified and prioritised potential follow-on projects which include the development of training modules and consumer protection awareness programs. It combined desktop research with field visits to and consultations in ASEAN countries. This project has delivered the following outputs: a policy brief and regional report on consumer protection in ASEAN, a sub-group report for ASEAN Member States that have not yet enacted consumer protection laws, and country-specific reports for each ASEAN Member States. The reports has been presented to the ACCP and used as basis for the design of subsequent regional activities identified below. Related download: ASEAN Consumer Protection: Essential actions towards a single market (2011) ...
