Concluding Remarks:

1.Stebek Journal 2018:

The gaps - Inadequate application of the substantive laws on consumer protection.

example -the failure to show price of goods in most shops in Ethiopia (with the
exception of supermarkets and relatively bigger shops) even if Article 15 of the
TCCP requires it.

Solution- Administrative intervention

The challenges in the effective implementation of consumer rights:

Inter alia, relate to the availability of goods which is the sine qua non for consumer
choice, in contrast to a shortage economy. The right of consumers to fair price thus
envisages the level of choice available in the market.

Solution- subjective and objective realities conducive to the implementation of

laws. This calls for proactive reform policies

-toward private sector empowerment, productivity and competitiveness

which can significantly augment the level of supply in goods thereby facilitating
consumer welfare.

Manifestations of such realities that are conducive to consumer welfare include

effective trade competition in the context of empowered and vibrant private
sector so that the level of production and availability of goods can match consumer
demand. Consumers availed with choice further need information related with
standards, utility, safety and health.
The right to information against misleading advertising -is relatively detailed.
However, the normative regime cannot ensure consumer protection in the midst of
gaps in consumer awareness and redress. Civil societies are very important in the
dissemination of information and enhancement of awareness. They can also
facilitate public discourse on core issues including sustainable consumption so that
consumers can make informed decision and choice in buying goods and services.
Unlawful acts in advertising can only be controlled through stronger voice and
redress which, inter alia, require public interest litigation and strong civil society
organizations. In the absence of adequate civil society interventions, the
challenges are bound to continue on two fronts, i.e., misinformation that distorts
consumer cognition, and manipulation that mainly targets at emotion and desire
thereby distorting economic behavior of individual customers who are too
scattered to afford the financial cost, information, time and attention toward
effective consumer protection.

Rights of consumers to safety, fair price and information are futile in the absence
of effective redress. The challenge in this regard in Ethiopia is that consumers
usually find it difficult and expensive to access justice due to the cost involved in
terms of money and time. There is thus the need for harmonized and effective
enforcement of consumer rights accompanied by public interest litigation and
class action. Civil societies are indeed indispensible in this regard, because
individual redress is usually unaffordable to most consumers whose rights are
violated.
 Journal of Con.policy 2020- Benohr

The UNGCP provide an international framework for consumer protection,

including minimum consumer standards and cooperation provisions for Member
States. Since the 2015 revision, the Guidelines now cover more areas of consumer
protection and define an institutional machinery in charge of promoting the
cooperation and implementation of the Guidelines. The new UNGCP also shows a
clear shift in focus. While initially directed to Member States, they now also
directly address companies, encouraging best practice and corporate responsibility.
In addition, the Guidelines seem to converge towards a more inclusive and broader
consumer protection model as new provisions aim to protect the vulnerable
consumer and deal with access by consumers to essential utilities. Overall, the
UNGCP have been upgraded from the previous version and have great potential to
further improve consumer protection at the international and national level. They
are unique as they aim to provide standards covering the most relevant aspects of
consumer protection, and have proved to be a reference point for both developing
and developed countries. While other international organizations have become
equally active in this space, they typically only cover restricted areas of consumer
protection, stopping short of defining a comprehensive framework, or covering
only narrow regions. As the Guidelines were adopted by consensus, they carry a
strong moral force and have already had a non-negligible effect at the Member
States and regional level. This impact has been supported and amplified by the
active contribution of the UN as promotor of intergovernmental cooperation and
“capacity builder.” As a result, consumer protection has gained international
attention as an area of law and policy that needs to be addressed globally, rather
than regulated purely at the national level.
Despite being so impactful, the Guidelines remain a soft law instrument with
some limitations with regard to implementation and enforcement. This raises
the question of whether a more binding legal mechanism, or increased institutional
innovation, could further strengthen consumer protection at the international level.
This article has identified some avenues for change and improvement in this
direction. For the time being, the UNGCP can be regarded as an important step
towards recognizing consumer law as a prime area of international law, and a force
inspiring change. However, only time will show whether the Guidelines’ soft law
approach will be able to coalesce Member States and institutions in resolving the
practical challenges faced by the global consumer.

International Consumer Law: What Is It All About? M. Durovic 2020 J.C. Policy

Conclusions:

All in all, it may be concluded that the UN Guidelines and ICPEN are certainly

great ideas and provide solid foundations of the international consumer law.

However, further efforts are needed to create a more complete and a more efficient

system of international consumer law. As it stands now, an establishment of a

uniform, unified, and harmoniously applied global consumer law with a centralized

dispute resolution system seems to be an impossible mission. The focus of the

international consumer law should not be on development of unified substantive

rules on consumer protection, but on the securement of adequate enforcement of

consumer law. That is the most problematic and the most important element of
consumer law. In that sense, UNCTAD, as the focal point within the United

Nations on consumer protection, might contribute to the improvement of

enforcement of consumer law on a global level. In that sense, what should be

further strengthen is the UNTAD’s role in facilitating the coordination of efforts at

the national, regional and international levels (United Nations 2018, p. 12).

International consumer law needs to pay particular attention to providing an

adequate regulatory response to the developments of new technologies and the rise

of Internet as a global marketplace, but also to profit from these developments.

These developments may facilitate infrastructure for communication and

cooperation in the area of consumer law, in particular in the area of enforcement of

consumer law where a cross border dimension is present. What seems to be the

biggest challenge for the international consumer law is how to secure an adequate

and efficient legal framework for such a cooperation in the future. There should be

a global consensus among the nations to work on this issue and this is where

further efforts need to be invested in. ICPEN certainly represents a good starting

point, but its further development is certainly indispensable. For example, the

existing ICPEN network could be also used to develop a global database on how a

consumer law problem is to be resolved under different consumer law jurisdictions

that consumers could easily consult if they have any kind of consumer law related

problem. It is true that language differences might be a problem, shifting the focus
on translation. However, this is yet another area where new technologies may

secure an automatic conversion between languages to provide consumers with a

basic explanation of the key provisions of the substantive national consumer law

legislation and case law. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of

the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit

to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons

license, and indicate if changes were made.

A Critical Analysis of the Enforcement Framework of Consumer Protection in Ethiopia:
Challenges and Prospects by Tessema Elias June, 2011 Addis Ababa

The Enforcement Strategy and Remedies under Consumer

Protection Enforcing in Ethiopia

Even though there is no uniform enforcement strategies and practices for consumer
protection across the world due to the existence of differences in socio-economic
and political realities among nations of the world, the study has found that having
variety of statutory enforcement options and remedies, following more of
advocatory and preventive approaches than punitive and interventionist
approaches, prioritizing the areas of intervention based on comprehensive study,
flexibility and promotion of self-regulation, coordination and cooperation of
enforcing institutions with other relevant organs having similar objectives are some
of common enforcement strategies which are advocated by many legal scholars as
effective strategies for consumer protection enforcement and, adopted and applied
by many countries in their competition and consumer protection enforcement
framework.

Under Ethiopian circumstances, the study has found some problems in these
respects and recommended possible solutions as follows: One of the most
important strategies for effective enforcement of consumer protection is
conducting pre-intervention study. However, the study has found that the recent
intervention of MoT in the market in the form of price regulation of basic goods
and services has lacked proper pre-intervention study in terms of prioritization,
determination and application. And hence, the study recommends that institutions
entrusted with duty to enforce consumer protection regulations should conduct pre-
intervention studies as to prioritization, determination, application and cost benefit
analysis before the intervention. For example, if MoT found that „beer‟ to be basic
to Ethiopian consumers and want to apply it, it could be more prudent the MoT in
consultation with relevant bodies to give different levels for hotels, bars,
restaurants, and other places where beer can be sold before its implementation
based on different factors such as service quality, location, etc.

The study has also found that penalties provided under the proclamation and
actions that are being taken by the MoT against business community are more of
punitive and revengeful than educative and persuasive which are not capable
of bringing long term benefits to consumers. Hence, the study recommends for
the legal amendment there by revising penalties so as to fit to the existing capacity
of our traders and focusing more on education, advocacy, persuasion and
framework as to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. There also should
be continuous training and experience sharing programs available to the enforcing
institutions for practical improvement.

Recommendations Based on the findings of this paper, -Desalegn 2011

1. As far as the scope of application of the law is concerned, it is not clear whether it addresses

issues of consumer in cross-border transactions. To protect Ethiopian consumers in this regard,

therefore, it is essential either to clearly provide rules of private international law that pertain to

consumer protection under the consumer protection law or else adopt “The Draft to Provide for

Federal Rules of Private International Law.”

2. The institutional framework of the law should have place for private organs. The role of these

organs in the enforcement of consumer protection law is essential. If the law gives them a duly
recognized role, they can help the government to properly enforce the law. The role that should

be given for private organs in the institutional framework of the law may not necessarily be that

of implementation. They can be given an advisory role in the enforcement of the law. just like

the role the Ethiopian Consumer Protection Association has under the Ethiopian Food, Medicine

and Health Care Administration and Control Authority and under the Ethiopian Standards

Agency.

3. There should be extensive consumer education. This is because majority of Ethiopian

consumers are prone to exploitation by market actors. The law is enacted recently and consumers

are not aware of their rights stipulated under it. Not only for consumers, extensive awareness

creation should also be made on business persons about their obligations, their liabilities, about

competition, anticompetitive practices and unfair competition, and about the rights of consumers

in general.

4. The law shall be properly and effectively enforced. In this regard, the enforcement of the

law shall be made after due consideration of all factors that may influence its implementation.

5. The criminal penalty imposed against traders has to be reconsidered. It is not fair to impose a

two million birr penalty and a twenty years term of imprisonment. Ethiopian traders are too petty

to be subject to a fine of two million birr. And the term of imprisonment is very high compared

to economic crimes stipulated under the Criminal Code. And it is also unlike the experiences of

other countries.

6. The law has to clearly provide for the right to appeal and the organ to which an appeal

would be made against the decisions of Regional Consumer Protection Organs. The existence of
the right to appeal is very essential as it is the means by which justice would be maintained. This

also avoids the possible discrepancy in the enforcement of the law at federal and regional levels.