Consumer responsibilities

In the 1980s, CI's then president, Anwar Fazal, led the call to also introduce a set of consumer responsibilities to compliment consumer rights.

These remain crucial principles for many consumer rights organisations today:

• Critical awareness - consumers must be awakened to be more questioning about the provision of the quality of goods and services.
• Involvement or action - consumers must assert themselves and act to ensure that they get a fair deal.
• Social responsibility - consumers must act with social responsibility, with concern and sensitivity to the impact of their actions on other citizens, in particular, in relation to disadvantaged groups in the community and in relation to the economic and social realties prevailing.
• Ecological responsibility - there must be a heightened sensitivity to the impact of consumer decisions on the physical environment, which must be developed to a harmonious way, promoting conservation as the most critical factor in improving the real quality of life for the present and the future.
• Solidarity - the best and most effective action is through cooperative efforts through the formation of consumer/citizen groups who together can have the strength and influence to ensure that adequate attention is given to the consumer interest.

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