Consumer protection improvement essential to support ASEAN single economy community: Indonesian official

English.news.cn   2012-05-02        

       

JAKARTA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Consumer protection is an essential measure that needs to be conducted in ASEAN countries regarding the implementation of ASEAN Single Economy Community by 2015, a statement released by the trade ministry said here on Wednesday.

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"In single economy regime, markets in ASEAN territory will be more integrated. In bid to create high competitive region, we cannot neglect the consumers' role," Indonesian Trade Deputy Minister, Bayu Krisnamurthi, said in the statement.

The senior official's comment was addressed to the conduction of ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP) ke-5 meeting held in Bali from Wednesday to Friday this week.

Bayu said that Indonesia intends to take part in the region's intensive efforts to improve consumer protection measures that would eventually create smart, critical and independent consumers.

On the other hand, the measures were also expected to encourage business to be more responsible in producing their goods sold in the market, he said.

"If the measures are well implemented, there will be higher quality of goods and services available in the market," Bayu said.

The ACCP was initially formed in 2007, divided in three working groups that comprised of Working Group on Rapid Alert System and Information Exchange (WG RAPEX) led by Indonesia, Working Group on Cross Border Consumer Redress (WG CBCR) led by Malaysia and Working Group Training and Education (WG T&E) led by Vietnam.

The latest working group has established cooperation with Australia, conducting several researches, is formed under ASEAN Australia Development Cooperation Program (AADCP).

Two ASEAN member countries, Myanmar and Cambodia, are yet to have consumer protection law in their respective countries.

Editor: Liu

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