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Our mission: " Making the Pakistani Consumers'
Voice Heard"
We aim to defend and promote the interests of Pakistani
consumers - citizens as purchasers or users of goods and
services - in the Pakistani policy process. Drawing on
collective knowledge and experience, the CAP (Consumers
Association of Pakistan) team and our members together develop
policy positions that form the basis of our campaigning. We
contribute expertise on issues that have direct economic or
legal consequences for consumers or that impact consumers'
health, safety and environment. We seek to maximize the
benefits of the Pakistani Market and minimize potential risks
for the consumer, focusing increasingly on matters of quality
and on social and ethical issues. We pay special attention to
the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, including children,
the elderly and the disadvantaged. Our vision of the Pakistani
State is one of shared responsibility among all stakeholders
in society to maintain and strengthen basic consumer rights.
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Our
Principles : The Core Consumer Rights
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Consumers are entitled to eight core consumer rights. CAP
works to integrate these rights into all areas of Pakistan:
The Consumer Right to Safety
Which means the right to be protected against products,
production processes
and
services which are hazardous to health or life. It includes
concerns for consumer long-term
interests as well as their immediate
requirements.
The Consumer Right to Information
Which
means the right to make an informed
choice or decision.
Consumers must be provided with adequate information
enabling them
to act wisely and responsibly. They must also be protected
from
misleading or inaccurate publicity material, whether
included in
advertising,
labeling, packaging or by other means
The Consumer Right to
Choice
Which means the right to have access to a variety of
products and
services at competitive prices, and in the case of
monopolies, to have an assurance of satisfactory quality
and service at a fair price.
The Consumer Right to be
Heard
Which means
right to advocate consumers interests with a view to their
receiving full and sympathetic consideration
in the formulation and execution of economic and
other policies. It includes the right of representation in
governmental and other policy-making bodies as well in
the development of products and services before they produced
or set up.
The
Consumer Right to Redress
Which means
the right to a fair settlement of just claims. It includes the
rights to receive compensation for misrepresentation of
shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services and the
availability of acceptable forms of legal aid or redress for
small claims, where necessary.
The Consumer Right to
Education
Which
means the right to acquire the knowledge and skills to be and
informed consumer throughout life. The right to consumer
education incorporates the right to the knowledge and skills
needed for talking action to influence
factors which affect consumer decisions.
The
Consumer Right to a Clean Environment
Which
means the right to physical environment that will enhance the
quality of life. It includes protection against
environmental dangers over which the individual has no
control. It acknowledges the need to protect and improve the
environment for present and future generations.
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The responsibility
to be more alert and questioning about price and
quality of goods and services we use.
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The
responsibility to assert ourselves and act to ensure that
we get a fair deal.
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The
responsibility to be aware of the impact of our
consumption on other citizens.
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The responsibility to understand the environmental consequences of our
consumption.
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The responsibility to develop the strength and influence to promote and
protect our interests.
It
is clear from these lists that consumer issues have moved
beyond a narrow concentration on consumer protection, to
embrace and promote a wider agenda.
Consumer
protection remains an essential part of the work of consumer
organizations. But consumers
protection is essentially defensive and responsive. To be
effective the consumer movement must also be dynamic –
setting the agenda, defining solutions, shaping opportunities,
and interacting with those who provide goods and services in a
positive and creative way.
In
a modern and growing economy the consumer must be the driving
force that
requires innovation, forces change and growth, and accepts
nothing less than real quality underpinned by genuine choice.
The
agenda of consumers association of
Pakistan
is to continue to work for the protection of Pakistani
consumers in the country. We will also proceed with our
endeavors to improve consumer education. The consumer must
become more assertive, sometimes in partnership with the
producer, and sometimes talking the lead.
CAP is not only a consumer body.
It is also a development body. What CAP would like to
do is:
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Create independence
amongst consumers
- “ The
Best Protection
is Self-Protection”.
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To create a wise consumer society
To coordinate and be an advisory body to all the other
consumers organizations in
Pakistan
so that they could achieve their objectives, especially in
providing information, education and consumer protection.
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The right to basic goods and services which
guarantee survival.
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The right to be
protected against the marketing of goods or the
provision of services that are hazardous to health and life.
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The right to be protected against dishonest or
misleading advertising or labeling.
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The right to choose products and services at
competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality .
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The right to express consumer interests in the
making and execution of government policy.
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The right to be compensated for
misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services.
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The right to acquire the knowledge and skills
necessary to be an informed consumer.
The right to
live and work in an environment which is neither threatening
nor dangerous and which permits a life of dignity and
well-being.
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Communicating
with The Pakistani Institutions
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To influence Pakistan policy we work with the different
institutions and at a number of levels. The Republic of
Pakistan is the first stage of this process. As the executive
of the Pakistan and the initiator of proposals for
legislation, the Consumer Association is a prime focus of our
work. We closely follow developments within the Health
and Consumer protection and in all the other aspects
that may affect the interests of consumers. We also maintain
close links with the Pakistani related departments and
Parliament, both through direct contact with members of the
Parliament and through the Committees. The Consumer
Association of Pakistan Managing Committee, which has been
re-instituted , offers an informal cross-Committee
discussion forum once a month during plenary session in
Karachi. The Managing Committee focuses on key proposals for
consumers discussed in all Committees, promoting an
inter-disciplinary perspective on consumer affairs and
allowing better co-ordination between Government
Establishments and consumer organization expertise. It is
chaired by Mr. Kaukab Iqbal Chairman. Our member
organizations are in direct contact with their national
governments and in this way influence decision-making within
the Council . We also work with the different Government
Representations in Pakistan The CAP Executive Committee
presents consumer priorities to each Presidency.
Copyright © 2005, Consumers Association of
Pakistan
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