History and Background Of Consumer Protection

Consumer Protection
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Consumer Protection
In an economic system, where much of the dynamics revolve around the demand and supply; it is likely that some of the traders may take advantage of the consumers to make extra profit. This is at the expense of the consumers financial or even health stability. The capitalist system largely relates to the entrepreneurs owning the means of production and maximizing the profits along the production line. It is for this reason that the government takes the initiative of controlling the various aspects of trade, to ensure that the consumers are protected. Ideally this is to mean that the government works to protect the consumers from fraud, deception and unfair business practices. It is a common aspect, where traders will try to swindle the consumers with fake products. This means that the trader in this case will be selling the consumer a product that is not genuine at a price that is inflated to reflect the original product (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2017). For example, it is common for consumers to be sold fake Rolex watches as these are prestigious and not so many consumers are aware of the fake products in the market, or even how to check if a product is genuine. As such considering that most of the markets in the global markets are within the free markets, there is need for control. The consumer protection aspect refers to the group of laws that are designed to offer fair trade regulations, control the aspects of competition among the traders in the market, make sure that the information shared in the markets is genuine as well ensure that the consumer rights are observed at all times.
History and Background Of Consumer Protection
Economics activities start at the consumer as they play a pivotal in the development of the various markets. It is actually to note that even the bible does mention some form of consumer protection which is also reflected in the Code of Hammurabi even though it is from a mercantile perspective. Before the 18th century, consumers were not protected. As such, they always had to make sure they check the quality of whatever goods that they purchased on their own. This also meant that only in cases where the traders showed some element of gross negligence would they be held accountable.
Much of the interventions to save the consumers from the traders can be traced back to Europe. This was at the height of consumerism; where the much of the goods that were produced were driven at the consumer habits that much of the society had become accustomed to. The first consumer protection organization can be traced back to the year 1947 in Denmark (Corradi, 2017). Later on, there were traces of the ground work for consumer protection in Britain back in the year 1955 (Corradi, 2017). In the latter case, the government constituted consumer council. Through the council, the consumers would be in a position to express themselves where they felt that they have been exploited by certain traders and even producers. The most influential breakthroughs came with the single European act. This was a crucial step in the right direction as it allowed for the modification of the Treaty of Rome, and strengthened the Economic and Social Committee Role. In the united states, some of the first efforts to protect the consumer can be traced back to the year 1914, when president Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Trade Commission Act (Corradi, 2017). This was a crucial step in the direction as other than the fact that it protected the consumers it also brought about fair competition. The consumer rights are also guided by the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, that were adopted in the year 1985. The guidelines propose a number of legitimate needs which are stipulated into rights of the consumers, these include;
* The right to information
* The right to be heard
* The right to safety
* The right to consumer education
* The right to choose
* Promoting economic interests of the consumers (Corradi, 2017)
The most interesting aspects of the consumer protection laws in America is the fact that most of the have been developed on the basis of a crisis. They were formed of a situation that demanded some aspect of response from the government. This would mean that most of the people had experienced whatever challenge the society was facing with reference to consumer safety. For example, the formulation of the Food and Drugs Administration can be traced to issues regarding foods especially the meat packaging crisis. There were further developments from the Progressive era and the new deal era which was steered by president Franklin Roosevelt. The modern consumer protection laws that are in place today are largely attribu...