Gov’t flags expansion of Consumer Council authority

Chan Hon Seng (right)

The Macau government’s inter-departmental task group, responsible for reviewing local consumer protection legislation, has released a consultation conclusion report. The group has found that the majority of opinions support the further empowerment of the Consumer Council by allowing it to collect and release business information through future legislation. However, the officials did not specify the scope of the consumer watchdog’s new powers.
The task group was formed by the Legal Affairs Bureau, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and the Consumer Council. The consultation took place between June 12 and August 12 last year, and received 543 opinions and suggestions.
The majority of opinions express agreement with the idea of legislating against various illegal trading behaviors, such as the abuse of market ascendancy and price collusion. The report also indicates overwhelming support for the protection of consumers’ right to information by giving the Consumer Council the authority to acquire business information from enterprises.
The report says that the public generally realize that the abuse of market ascendancy is motivated by the acquisition of unjustified economic benefits. Subsequently, the public also recognize that this behavior will strangle market competition, which will lead to fewer consumption choices and higher prices. Therefore, the report has proposed that such behaviors be penalized with a relatively large fine. The report also says that a detailed regulation will be produced that will help businesses to understand the boundaries of future legislation.
The report also called for legislation to monitor price collusion. It suggested that, like the abuse of market ascendancy, price collusion should be penalized with a relatively large fine.
Moreover, the report mentioned that a majority of the collected opinions agreed with bestowing on the Consumer Council the power to collect data regarding the consumption of goods and services, such as the mechanism for determining their prices. However, the report said that the Council should only publish this data in a way that will allow consumers to discover the general trend of the market, instead of disclosing the wholesaling or procuring prices set by individual businesses.
During a press conference yesterday, the Consumer Council’s executive committee acting president, Chan Hon Seng, revealed that some opinions the authorities collected during the consultation period have described the Council as a “toothless tiger.” Mr Chan said that the Council wants to take up the role of umpire in the future, and will “resolutely penalize” any rule-breaching parties. Nevertheless, he stressed that Macau’s law still maintains a free market principle, and that the authorities can only intervene in a moderate manner.
Furthermore, when asked about the time frame for legislation or amendments as proposed by the report, the Legal Affairs Bureau director, Liu Dexue, only promised to launch the legislative procedure “as soon as possible.” The officials also failed to give any details on what new powers the Consumer Council will be given.