A letter to the Minister of Trade, Giorgos Papanastasiou and the Director General of the Ministry, was jointly sent by the Cypriot Consumers' Association and the Pancypriot Union of Consumers and Quality of Life, opening fire against the Consumer Protection Service and noting that "the strong impression that prevails in consumer organizations is that the Consumer Protection Agency does not actually act to protect consumers but to protect others"
The letter as it is
Dear
We refer to the action of the Consumer Protection Service and regrettably we find that it is far from our expectations. Unfortunately, the Consumer Protection Service, it seems, has not yet realized its purpose and role. Its actions, deeds and omissions lead to the sad finding that the real protection of consumers is not in the immediate priorities and practices of the Service.
The strong impression among consumer organizations is that the Consumer Protection Agency does not actually act to protect consumers but to protect someone else.
For the purpose of documenting the above sad finding, that in general the Service does not act in accordance with its purpose and role, briefly, the following illustrative examples are listed:
1. Bill on Representative Proceedings. Deliberately and intentionally included negative provisions that take away basic rights of organized consumer groups who have had them for 15 years. The attempt to remove or limit these rights essentially prohibits organized groups of consumers from exercising their role in the legal protection of the collective interests of consumers.
2. The previous Minister, after discussing the matter in the Consumer Advisory Committee, gave instructions for the preparation of draft legislation/report on the possibility of creating the institution of the Consumer Commissioner or making the Consumer Protection Service independent so that it does not come under the same Ministry, which it is also responsible for the commercial and industrial world.
The Consumer Protection Service prepared a draft report and recommendations that were so far from the expectations of consumer organizations that both consumer organizations immediately rejected it. Since then, no other effort has been made in this direction.
3. The Director of the Service, who is the only one responsible for the effective implementation of the relevant laws for consumer protection, consciously and consistently avoids imposing effective penalties, even for serious violations, as a result, some of the offenders to continue their illegality at the expense of consumers. Not imposing effective penalties on offenders violates the relevant directives of the European Union. The Director of the Service himself cannot act in such a way as to create the impression that he himself is an offender.
4. In the last year, consumer organizations have submitted dozens of complaints in writing to the Consumer Protection Service for which no penalty has been imposed. (A specific relevant list can be given). In addition, the time to complete the investigation of complaints is unacceptably slow resulting in violations continuing to the detriment of consumers. (A relevant indicative list of Decisions of the Director of the Service is attached).
5. In the area of transparency regarding the action and actions of the Service in the investigation of complaints or ex officio investigation, the Service does not give any substantial information. Even to the specific complaints of the Consumer organizations, the response of the Service is either that "appropriate actions were taken" without additional information, or "the investigation of the complaint has been completed" without again any other information.
In addition, the Service does not publish any annual report on its activities, nor are the Director's Decisions posted on its website in cases where a violation is found and a warning letter is sent.
6. The monitoring of the prices of products and services through transparent surveys must be continuous in order to detect any distortions and actions at the expense of consumers. However, such investigations, at least until today, were not made public so that the organized groups could also draw their own conclusions.
Bearing in mind the above, there are certainly others, the trust of both organized sets of consumers towards the Consumer Protection Service as an institution and by extension towards the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry has been shaken almost irreparably.
Consumer organizations estimate that the whole situation that has arisen is mainly due to the actions and decisions of the Director of the Service, who unfortunately does not seem to meet the expectations of consumers for the effective defense of their interests.
The assessment of consumer organizations is that the replacement of the Director of the Consumer Protection Service, or at least the delivery of clear instructions to the Director to act transparently and in accordance with the directives of the European Union, would be a step to restore the trust of consumer organizations in the Consumer Protection Service and the creation of the good relations that organized consumers should have with the Material Competent Authority for their protection.
Please note that the above will be among the topics to be discussed at our meeting on 19/10/2023.