NGO calls for review of Consumer Act

MANILA, Philippines - Non-government organization Philippine Metrology Standards Testing and Quality Inc. (PhilMSTQ) is calling for the review of the Consumer Act of the Philippines to remove the development of product quality standards  in the hands of government and leave it to the private sector instead, to allow local firms to become more competitive.

“The Consumer Act needs to be revised,” PhilMSTQ president Cirila Botor said in a press conference yesterday noting that developing standards for the quality of products should be handled by the private sector.

“When you regulate quality, you constrict the private sector from innovation,” she said.

She said leaving the development of standards on whether the products can perform the function it should serve or not with the private sector is even more important now, as the country is preparing for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.

The AEC is expected to transform the ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor, and freer flow of capital.

“The AEC 2015 is almost there and we have to operate in a global market,” Botor said.

For his part, Jon Echanove, key expert on National Quality Infrastructure for the European Union (EU)-Philippines Trade Related Technical Assistance Project Phase 3 said in the same event that a study on the country’s metrology, standardization, testing and certification of products conducted as part of the EU-Philippines project, has recommended leaving the development of product quality standards in the private sector.

“Trust in the private sector is a way to optimize resources of the government,” he said.

“If we take quality out of regulatory bodies, the industry can self-regulate and compete,” he added.