Consumer Awareness Crucial to Preventing Market Fraud

Akrti Tripathi, Legal Officer at the Consumer Protection Forum Nepal, emphasized that consumers must exercise their rights by checking quality marks, labels, expiry dates, and invoices before making purchases. She noted that complaints regarding artificial shortages, black marketing, adulteration, expired products, and misleading advertisements can be filed with the Ministry of Commerce, Consumer Courts, and the Hello Government platform.

How aware are consumers about whether the products they buy are of good quality, whether the labels provide accurate information, and where to lodge complaints if they are cheated? Issues such as artificially created scarcity leading to price hikes, sale of adulterated and expired goods, misleading advertising, and refusal to issue receipts remain widespread. In such circumstances, consumer vigilance is essential to protect their rights.

Akrti Tripathi pointed out that despite the availability of information about consumer rights, there is a need for a behavioral shift to actively apply this knowledge. According to her, safeguarding consumer rights is not solely the responsibility of the government or regulatory agencies; consumers themselves must learn to demand and exercise their rights. Essentially, a consumer is any individual or entity that uses products, services, or digital content in the current context. The concept of consumer rights encompasses the entitlements consumers have when availing products or services, which are protected by respective authorities.

The concept of consumer rights is not new. Its origins can be traced back to the initial exchange of goods and services. Since people started bartering, questions about the quality and value of received goods and services began arising. Especially following the Industrial Revolution, when mass production became widespread, consumer rights assumed greater significance. Consumers have the fundamental right to choose quality products. The legal responsibilities of producers, intermediaries, and sellers are clearly defined by law.