Mixed reactions to proposed amendments of Consumer Act

CEBU, Philippines - Proposed amendments to the Consumer Act of the Philippines (CAP) are being viewed locally as beneficial to consumers in that it protect them  against fraudulent activities but burdensome for online business players and other netizens.

Bataan Representative and House Trade and Industry Committee chair Albert Garcia sought amendments for CAP or the Republic Act No. 7394 with the issues regarding Internet sales promotion particularly in social networking sites such as Facebook that should require netizens to acquire government permits. 

He remained bullish that the Congress will pass important measure to resolve a pro-consumer legislature for the protection and welfare of the consuming public.

Fleire Castro, owner and social media manager of Third Team Media, expressed support to the amendments saying an updated CAP will empower consumers  to do online transactions.

Third Team Media is a digital agency of web working professionals and technologists focused on small business online digital marketing and social media management services. 

“As a major online buyer myself, I would love this amended.Even though the brick and mortar counterparts are pushing for this due to online seller being major competitors, I still think it’s first and foremost, for the benefit of us consumers too,” she told The Freeman. 

She also suggested online sellers to provide purchase reports to customers with a certain ceiling transaction amount with payment and reporting made online, removing the hassle to do such processes.

Digital goods such as e-books, documents, and software as a service should be considered shipped, she added.

Castro further recommended having the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) review the Internet Tax Freedom Act which has been renewed through November 1, 2014 as imposed in the United States federal law.

She noted that companies selling over the Internet are subject to the same sales tax collection requirements as any other retailers.

“Remote sellers (including Internet retailers and catalog companies) are generally required to collect taxes where they have a physical selling presence. If they do not have any such presence, they are not required to collect sales taxes,” she said.

Although acknowledging the use of social media as an efficient marketing strategy for companies in the age of technology, she pointed out that brands who do online promotions via social channels should be wary that they are not exempted from getting the necessary permits to run online promotions so as not to be questionable.

The amendment on CAP, she added, will certainly change the practice on running advertisements online particularly for small-scale players such as micro-entrepreneurs, startups, and bloggers who aggressively establish their brand images through social media.

She also said that since the amendment tackles  online promotions, the legislative party should be able to update the process and make it  more user-friendly with digital means and execution.

Jacqueline Bardoquillo, an online vendor for already five years, acknowledged the importance of CAP update on the protection and security of consumers and the reduction of fraudulent activities online such as scams and false advertisements.

“It drives everyone responsible of what they would advertise, post, sell and not just for the sake of it. It would lessen those people who take advantage of social media as spamming medium just to be noticed and deceive people,” she said.

However, she noted that imposing registration for online sellers would be a hassle as it defeats the purpose of social media as an independent medium where the public can freely exercise their creative and entrepreneurial skills in an easy manner. 

Bardoquillo cited that legit online sellers can easily be indicated when they provide consumers proof of payments and delivery receipts, post comments and screen shots of the conversation with the purchaser, and seek feedbacks from their buyers.

She advised consumers to be more vigilant when engaging in social media and suggested a certain group responsible for promoting and attending to consumer reports on bogus advertisements. — (FREEMAN)