DSAP seeks regulation of direct selling business

CEBU, Philippines - The Direct Selling Association of the Philippines (DSAP) has drafted a bill that seeks to regulate the direct selling business in the country and duly protect the consumers from fly-by-night direct selling companies or pyramiding schemes.

According to DSAP chairman Ador Bonquin, the bill, once passed into law, will specify corresponding punishments and penalties for unscrupulous people or companies engaging in illegal direct selling.

“Today, these violators are penalized only by the consumers’ protection law, (which has penalties that do not really create fear from violators.) We (DSAP) aim to have a law specific to direct selling,” he said in an interview.

Bonquin said that he personally drafted the bill, which is a product of incorporating the direct selling laws of other countries such as India , Korea , Thailand and Malaysia . Since the Filipino culture is different from the citizens of the mentioned countries, the provisions of the Philippines ’ direct selling bill were localized and fit to the country’s direct selling business.

“Like for instance, in the Philippines, we have direct selling and direct marketing, which are two different business practices. Direct selling is personally selling a product to another person while direct marketing uses technology or medium in selling like telephone, cellular phones, Internet, among others,” he said.

DSAP plans to present the draft bill to whoever the newly-elected President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III appoints to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). DSAP has signed a memorandum of agreement with the DTI and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to help the latter educate the public on direct selling and police the direct selling industry in the country.

The DTI regulates scams on direct selling or networking with products while SEC is in charge of networking without products or investment scams.

Bonquin said DSAP also conducts its own investigation and seeks the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for entrapment operations.

“In fact, DSAP has had a great hand in many of the entrapment operations in the past,” he said.

DSAP has 26 member-companies with a total of distribution sales force of more than two million. Its members include Avon Philippines, Amway Philippines, Nu Skin, Unicity and Tupperware. It has a capital membership requirement of P2.5 million and an annual sales requirement of P10 million.

Bonquin said the organization is careful in accepting members so as to protect the legitimate companies in the industry and the end-consumers as well. DSAP is exploring the possibility of accepting small-time direct selling companies. But it is still finding for ways on how to ensure that these companies will be able to survive long enough for its distributors to get the return of their investment. (THE FREEMAN)