General Knowledge Concerns With Consumer Protection in Myanmar

Introduction

Many business persons, entrepreneurs running their economic enterprises are carrying out various methods such as production, distribution, selling, exporting and importing of goods or providing services to reach their products and services to the customers either by means of directly or indirectly. To perform those works, it is necessary for them to produce the quality of goods to be highly authentic for the safety of the consumers. It is also primary to get the customer satisfactions for the business relating to service providing industries. As to say, both entrepreneurs and consumers are required to abide the certain relevant laws and regulations of its respective fields of business sector to ensure the execution of the business between them to be efficiently completed and for the settlement of the disputes if it is arisen between them. In Myanmar, the Consumer Protection Law 2019 was practiced for the important matters relating to the consumer protection such as the rights and responsibilities of the consumers, the liabilities of the entrepreneur, disputes settlement mechanism and, crime and penalties.

Definition of the importance terms relating to the Consumer Protection

1. Consumer protections is the protection of the rights and interests of the consumer in respect of goods or services, and the fair procedures between a consumer and an entrepreneur stipulated by the Consumer Protection Commission and levels of committees.
2. Consumer is a person who purchases, uses, obtain, rents or receives the goods or services not for the purpose of trading or occupation but with the intention of using it either for himself or for another person.
3. Entrepreneur is an individual person or organization conducting production, distribution, storage, transportation, sale, manufacturing, exportation, importation, resale of goods, or supply of goods, or providing services or advertisement.
4. Goods means objects that are purchased, used or consumed aiming at consumer himself or other persons. The financial negotiable instruments, stocks and shares, debentures and money, etc. are also included within this meaning.
5. Service means an act which fulfills the need of a consumer in the form of work or performance with or without consideration.
6. Trade means the conduct of determining the value of goods and services intent to gain profit from it.[1]
7. Damage [2]is the act done to consumer which is causing detriment to him by means of physically, mentally, reputation or ownership in respect of the good or service.

The aims and importance of Consumer Protection Law

Consumer Protection is vital in every economic sectors as the rapid growth of various businesses are depending on the purchase of the consumers .The implementation of consumer protection should carry out before the products reach to the hands of the consumer i.e. the quality of the product should be exact and accurate as prescribed in the description to ensure the safety, health and well-being of the consumers or the providing service must bring the complete gratifications of the consumers, and there must be reasonable explanation and suitable resolutions of the problem if the consumers did not satisfy either of the product or the service provided which causing any disputes. In order to prevent any damages causing to the consumer and to take precaution before it happens, the entrepreneurs or business persons should abide by the Consumer Protection Law and relevant laws.

 The Consumer Protection Law also clearly stated its purposes as below.

(a) to ensure the fulfillment of consumer’s rights;

(b) to raise comprehensive awareness on consumer protection;

(c) to disseminate accurate, correct and clear information on consumer protection;

(d) to fulfill the high quality of goods or services that guarantee on safety, health and satisfaction of the consumers;

(e) to be followed by the entrepreneur on consumer protection in accordance with the law;

(f) to prevent the consumers from hazardous goods or services and any damage from consumption of it;

(g) to manage and regulate the establishment of consumer protection associations and to cooperate with each other in order to strengthen such associations;

(h) to take action rapidly on hazardous goods or services to the consumer.[3]

The main purposes of Consumer Protection law can be classified into two particular purposes which is for the both consumers and entrepreneurs. The first is to ascertain the consumers to enjoy all of his right entitled to him, ensuring he is aware of the knowledge relates to consumer protection and as to prevent him from consuming the dangerous products or services which will cause him unnecessary damages. The second is the acts need to be done by the entrepreneurs i.e he is necessary to produce or sell the high quality products and service for the satisfaction of the consumers and to carry out its act by means of abiding the consumer production in accord with the law.

Duties of Entrepreneur

The entrepreneur is obligated to carry out the duties imposed on them in order to strengthen and advance their business in the market as he can loss many of his interest if the relevant government bodies or organizations decide to delay his processing business or terminate his business temporarily or permanently in cases he fails to perform the mandatory duties. The entrepreneur must-

1. provide the simple and correct information regarding the guarantee and requirements of goods or services;
2. treat consumers honestly and properly without discrimination;
3. perform the business honestly and properly in accordance with the business ethics and regulations;
4. guarantee the goods or services for trading or manufacturing based on the quality and standardization stipulated by the relevant government departments and government organizations;
5. give the right to test on goods for consumers before purchase relating to the goods which need to be tested.
6. expressly describe the additional costs of goods or services to be known by the consumer before purchase;
7. avoid the direct or indirect sale of goods or services that are likely to cause damage or loss to consumers;
8. have accountability as promises for goods or services which are inconsistent with the guarantee;
9. avoid threatening, false statements in the form of saying, writing and acting in order to the detriment of consumers by means of the social media or by other means while settling the consumer dispute;
10. notify to the Department of Consumer Affair and consumers in time by means of the social media or by other means if he knows by himself or by any other way that the produced goods or services are hazardous
11. seriously comply the settlement and decision made by the relevant Committee if the disputes related to goods or services arise.[4]

Duties of Entrepreneur to provide guarantee related to Goods and Service

The entrepreneur must inform the consumers by lucidly describing the information of the selling goods in which the changing of its nature cannot be seen normally.[5] The entrepreneur must ensure to include the following facts in guarantee of the goods which need to be described-

1. the quality of the goods to be acceptable and useable by the consumers
2. the quality, measure, weight of the goods to correct
3. safety
4. suitability for consumer requirement
5. contain the same as described in the sample product
6. providing of extras, repairing or refunding of the goods within the guaranteed period or usable period
7. Consistent with the description contained in the fact which consists in label, the advertisement, offering and promotion.[6]

In concerns with the services, the entrepreneur must guarantee the following facts-

• Informing the facts about its services to the consumers in advance
• Fully provide the correct information and perfect service with standard
• Consistency with the consumer’s requirement
• Performing to complete with the guaranteed period
• Service fees to be paid as agreed with the consumers.[7]

Rights and Duties of the Consumers

The customers or consumers are also entitled to certain rights given by the law. They are entitled-

1. the right to obtain satisfaction on the basic needs in concerns with goods or services provided to them.
2. the right to use products and services safely.
3. the right to know the necessary information accurately and to attain the receipt and relevant substantiation in concerns with purchasing goods or services.
4. the right to purchase and use the goods and services in the market as they please.
5. the right to explain and make the complaint for the matters related to consumer damage.
6. the right to remedy for damage causing by purchasing and using of goods and services.
7. the right to learn the knowledge, right, necessary information in concerns with goods and services.[8]

The Consumers are also liable for the four following facts. They must-

1. comply with the information and guidelines regarding goods or services
2. pay the agreed price in purchasing the goods or services
3. avoid to make the false accusation and act intended to the detriment of entrepreneurs
4. avoid to make the false statement in the form of saying, writing and acting in order to cause the detriment of relevant entrepreneurs by means of the social media or by other means while settling the consumer dispute. [9]

Rights of Consumers for Guaranteed Goods and Services

If the entrepreneur do not produce the goods authentically or do not describe its information completely within the guaranteed period or usable period as stated in the Section 23, the Consumer is entitled to one of the following rights-

1. to repair and replace the goods in accord with the guarantee or
2. to refund the price of good, the purchased good or the goods which quality is not lower than the original one if the additional goods are not available at that moment or
3. to substitute the good with good where those values are in equal if the damage is caused by the defect of the entrepreneur or
4. to claim compensation if the damage is caused by the lack of providing the information in concerns with the goods.[10]

In concerns with goods guaranteed and sold by the entrepreneur mentioned under Section 23 of the Law, the consumer is entitled to the following rights-

1. the right to obtain the goods which quality is in accordance with the guarantee
2. the right to claim refund, repair and replacement from the seller
3. the right to obtain compensation if the goods cannot be get as accord with the guarantee.[11]

If the entrepreneurs cannot provide or fail to provide the service within the guaranteed period prescribed under Section 26, the consumer is entitled to claim,

1. payment of compensation if the damage is caused by the failure of providing service.
2. remedy for consumer damage if the agreed service cannot be obtained within the guaranteed period.[12]

Complaint and Dispute Settlement Mechanism

If the consumer is taken damage by consuming the entrepreneur’s products or service, he or his any family members or any related person of him or government departments or organizations and the consumer protections associations can file the complaint to the relevant offices in person or by using any form social connection methods (using telegraphic or emailing to complaint at official websites of Consumer Protection Commission of Myanmar with its standardized form) with evidence.[13]

After the complaint has been made, the relevant office can initiate its process which is to obtain the evidences submitted with the complaint to be accurate and impeccable by checking whether the filled complaint is correct or not and by taking the record to take action if the complaint is made with social connecting method.[14] The investigation officer whose duty is to investigate the complaint or to scrutinize the hazardous goods or services, and to inspect those goods and services to be eradicated from the market[15], report in concerns with his investigation in accordance with the Section 15(h) of the Consumer Protection Law to the relevant Office and its must carry out the following procedures to settle the dispute between consumers and entrepreneurs, i.e.,

1. to check the required document and other evidences related to the investigation.
2. to summon the entrepreneur who is being complained and his legal representative for conciliation.
3. to summon and inspect the consumer and the entrepreneurs or his legal representatives in the presence of eye witness and expert in the field of consumer protection.
4. to decide ex parte if the entrepreneurs who is being complained and his legal representative fails to be present for summoning.
5. to examine whether the consumer has taken damage or not and to meditate it.
6. to notify about the consumer protection agreement to the entrepreneurs who committed in concerns with the complaint.
7. to report the Committee if the committed entrepreneur fails to comply with the consumer protection agreement mentioned in above.[16]

If the entrepreneurs fails to comply his duties mentioned in Section 21 or fails to provide the claimable rights of the consumers mentioned in Section 24, 25 and Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Law, the relevant office can pass one or more administrative orders which are (1) warning (2) order of remedy (3) order of providing substitute and (4) order of refunding with the same value of loss.[17] If the entrepreneurs violates any provisions except Section 21 24, 25, 27 and Prohibitions mentioned in Chapter 23 of the Consumer Protection Law, the Committee can pass one or more following administrative orders-

1. to pay the fixed compensation for damage.
2. to impose fine.
3. to prohibit the sale of disputed goods or service for a limited period.
4. to coordinate with the relevant Government department to invoke the business license temporally or permanently if necessary.[18]

If the entrepreneur do not satisfy to obey the orders mentioned in above paragraph, he can appeal to the Consumer Protection Commission within sixty days starting from the day of passing the orders.[19] The committee can confirm, amend or cancel the orders passed by the relevant office and the commission can do the same to that of orders passed by the Committee. When in appealing, the decision of the Consumer Protection Commission is final and conclusive.[20] The expenses costing for dispute settlement must be paid by the party who cause the damage.[21]

Case of resolution for dispute

Complaint and Resolution in concerns with service

The incident took place in Kyaukbadung township of Mandalay Region. In July 2021, the customer purchase to use the Wi-Fi service for six months period with the price of 174,000 kyats from xxx Wi-fi shop. In morning of the 15 November 2021, the consumer informed the xxx Wi-Fi office of Kyaukbadung that the purchased wifi service cannot use anymore and the office replied they will come and fix it within 48 hours, but they did not come fix it till 24.11.2021.So the consumer report to resolve the damage caused by the disturbance, loss of time to work and costing phone bills to the Department of Consumer Affairs .In 26.11.2021, the matter was resolved at Kyaukbadung Office where the meeting was held  by explaining the facts contained in the Consumer Protection Law to the person in charge of the xxx wi fi service and he stated that they could not come fix wifi with 48 hours due to the occurrence of high number of wi fi interruption in the city, they can allow for 10 replacement days to use wifi for the loss of consumers, they are sorry to cause inconvenient to the consumers, they promise to prevent similar incident will not be happened again and they are aware that they can be punished by means of complaint made by the consumer or investigation or for not complying the provisions of  the Consumer Protection Law.[22]

Lawsuit, Crimes and Penalties related to Consumer Protection

The Department of the Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Commence can file the criminal law suit against the entrepreneur if he fails to obey the administrative order passed under Section 53 of the Consumer Protection Law. [23]That administrative order cannot prohibit to take legal action whether by means of civil or criminal proceedings.[24]The aggrieved consumer can file a civil lawsuit for his damage against the entrepreneurs even if he is already convicted with criminal charges.[25] So, the cases in respect of consumer protection, entrepreneurs can be taken action by means of civil proceedings and criminal proceedings. Entrepreneurs can be taken legal action for the breaching of the provisions stated in the Consumer Protection Law. The entrepreneurs can be punished for the following facts. That is to say-

1. if the entrepreneur violates the provision of Section 63 which prohibits to advertise the fraudulent advertisement, untrue advertisement, advertisement which fail to notify the danger, advertisement based on true event or true story of person without permission and the advertisement which are inconsistent with the ethic and existing law,[26] and if the entrepreneur violates the provision of Section 64 which prohibits to promote the goods and services at certain condition such as offering for sale of goods with special price without actually planning to sell the  exact amount or quantity as advertise, offering to grant the goods as prize or free service as promised without actually planning to grant and offering for sale of good or service which will physically or mentally disturb the consumers[27] , he can be convicted and sentenced punishable with imprisonment not less than six months or for a fine not less than twenty lakhs kyats or by both  and if he committed again the imprisonment sentence will up to one year and fine will up to one hundred lakhs kyats.[28]
2. If the entrepreneur violates the provision of Section 65 which prohibits to misled the good or service in certain conditions such as sale of goods and service after modifying or altering it, describing incorrectly as the goods and service are in accord with the norms and standard, sale of expired goods by means of modifying and mixing,[29]he can be convicted and sentenced punishable with imprisonment not less than six months or for a fine not less than fifty lakhs kyats or by both and if he committed again the imprisonment sentence will up to one year and fine will up to one hundred lakhs kyats.[30]
3. If the entrepreneur violates the provision of Section 66 which prohibits to deceive in relate to the sale of good or service in certain conditions such as providing the unusable or unattainable goods or service, concealing the flaw or defect of the good or service, downgrading the other good or service directly or indirectly, overstating the information of goods or services that is not complete and concrete, substituting and selling other goods instead of the sale of the offered goods, increasing the price before the sale promotion, selling together with the additional goods which are not needed for the consumer without any reasonable ground in purchasing the usable goods,[31] he can be convicted and sentenced punishable with imprisonment not less than one year or for a fine not less than one hundred lakhs kyats or by both  and if he committed again the imprisonment sentence will up to two years and fine will up to two hundred lakhs kyats.[32]
4. If the entrepreneur violates the provisions of Section 67 and 68, which prohibits to produce otrade or sale of goods or services which are inconsistent with the information described in labeling of the related goods, in consistent with the description contained in the advertisement and promotion, in consistent with the stipulated standard, the good or service forbidden by the Committee within a limited period for dispute,[33] and which prohibit to sale ,trade, produce of the goods in which the described labelling is not in accord with the Section 43 ,[34] he can be convicted and sentenced punishable with imprisonment not less than two year or for a fine not less than two hundred lakhs kyats or by both .[35]

Although the Consumer Protection Law is enacted to protect the rights of consumer, the consumer can also be taken criminal action in accordance with the existing law, if he dishonestly conceal the facts, making fraud complaint with the intention to cause damage unfairly to someone, making false testimony and submitting untrue evidence.[36]

Any person or the third party whose intention is dishonestly injured to consumers or entrepreneurs by means of adducing consumer to complaint, giving false testimony, spreading false news, conducting the act which can be taken action with existing law[37], can be convicted and sentenced punishable with imprisonment not less than six months or for a fine not less than twenty lakhs kyats or by both.[38]

Hence, both consumer and entrepreneur should subject to the provisions of the law which balance their conducts so that they can enjoy their rights and interests freely and completely, as the breaching of law can harmful to the interest of both parties (On the entrepreneur’s side, the certain conditions can occur such as delaying of business process, causing damage to the reputation of the business and person himself or be sentenced if he breach the law and on the other hand, though the law is in favors to protect consumer’s rights , he can also be taken action and be sentenced for breaching of law.

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