CONSUMER CONCERNS…Developing new standards for consumer goods and services

Mar 20, 2016 News

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PAT DIAL
One of the greatest concerns which the Guyana Consumers Association, and indeed consumer advocates worldwide have is the standard of goods and services offered to consumers.
The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) over the years has been facilitating the making of the Standards for various consumer goods and services.  They source International and Caribbean Standards, subject these to rigid research and discussion, and hold public consultations where stakeholders and members of the public are invited to give their inputs before the Standard is finally formulated.
When the Standard is formulated, it is then sent to the Cabinet for their approval as to whether the Standard should be mandatory or advisory.
GNBS has Standards on a very large number of goods and services but neither the Business community nor the Consumer community makes enough use of them.  The business community and consumers are urged to contact the Bureau in respect of those Standards affecting the goods and services in which they have an interest.
The two very knowledgeable, helpful and dedicated officers of the Bureau with whom the GCA often relates are Ms Ramrattie Karan and Ms Andrea Mendonca.
We consider it appropriate to now mention a few of the recent Standards which the Bureau has facilitated so as to illustrate how relevant those standards are and to encourage consumers and the business community to make use of them.
Most of the footwear imported and sold in Guyana originates in East Asia.  Unfortunately, most of this footwear tend to have serious defects as for example, the very poor paste used to paste on soles which come apart after a very few wears.  Or the very poor material with which the uppers are made, an example of this being the use of cloth sprayed over very neatly with some kind of vinyl paint deceitfully appearing to be vinyl.  The vinyl paint peels off in a few weeks and the shoes have to be discarded.
Or the very weak children’s shoes which don’t last out a school term, putting a heavy financial burden on parents to keep replacing their children’s footwear.  Complaints of this type has led to the formulation of a recent Standard for footwear which now offers some protection to the consumer and is a guide to the importer to source footwear which conforms to the Standard.
Another Standard we should mention is that which affect bottled drinking water.  Most consumers do not realize that not all bottled drinking water is healthy.  Some waters sold on the Guyanese market have an unacceptably high level of bacteria and we have had complaints of unhealthy solids being in the water.
We should always remind ourselves that several of the companies which offer bottled drinking water do not have the infrastructure to produce a wholesome and healthy product.  The Bureau has two Standards on bottled drinking water; one refers to quality and the other refers to the production process and a production code.
GNBS and the Food and Drugs Department do inspections and tests from time to time but they do not have enough personnel and resources to constantly monitor the bottled water market.  This places a responsibility on the consumer being able to discriminate on the kind of water he buys.
The Bureau has a Standard for gold jewelry where the carat of the gold used must be stamped on the piece.  This Standard is particularly important in protecting unsuspecting buyers, especially from the Diaspora, of being sold a 12-carat piece for a 16 or 18 carat one.  The existence of the Bureau’s Standard has lessened this type of dishonesty.
There are other recent Standards formulated for Bread and Rice and Noise pollution.  Regarding Bread, for instance, many of the bakers are unacquainted with the Bread Standard and often dilute ingredients.  Most small bakers mix far too much sugar in their dough thus endangering unsuspecting sufferers from Diabetes.
Over the years, the Guyana Consumers Association has been petitioning the relevant Authorities to enforce the Law which bans music and loud noises in the public transport – the minibuses.  We will again be making representations within the next few weeks.At the end of the month and early in April, the GNBS will hold public consultations on the Paint Ball game and Textiles.  At the moment Bed and Breakfast consultations are taking place and we shall have a Bed and Breakfast Standard in the next several weeks.
The consumer community and the public as a whole are enjoined to attend GNBS Standard consultations and make their inputs.
In the event that consumers have any complaint or problem, they may contact the Guyana Consumers Association, the Consumers Division of the Ministry of Business or the Consumer and Competition Commission.   GCA’s e-mail:[email protected]

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