DTI pushes amendments to Consumer Protection Law

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for amendments to the Consumer Protection Law such as higher penalties and measures covering online transactions.

Trade Undersecretary Mario Dimagiba told reporters on the sidelines of the 9th Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee for Consumer Protection yesterday the DTI intends to update Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines approved in 1992 by introducing amendments.

“We are now on the stage of proposing amendments to our Consumer Protection Law like increasing the penalties,” he said.

The DTI wants to increase the minimum fine to P50,000 from P500 and the maximum penalty to P1 million from P300,000.

Dimagiba said the DTI likewise wants to increase the number of years of imprisonment which is currently at a minimum of six months and maximum of two years.

He said the DTI also wants to include online commerce in the law to protect consumers who purchase goods via the Internet.

“We want to basically put them in the law. We have been receiving a lot of complaints on online commerce, particularly on the very cheap products being sold which seem too good to be true,” he said.

Electronic commerce in the Philippines started as a business about five years ago.

“There is a loophole that is why we want to improve on that,” Dimagiba said.

The DTI expects to submit the first draft of the proposed amendments to the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship by next week.

In a related development, Dimagiba said the ASEAN Committee for Consumer Protection has nearly completed its commitments for next year noting that all members have already put in place their respective consumer protection law.

Beyond 2015, he said the ASEAN Committee of Consumer Protection intends to come up with an online redress and complaint mechanism for the region.

“We have a website already, www.aseanconsumer.org, where any citizen can complain on any consumer transaction while they are visiting the ASEAN. They can just log on to the website,” he said.