Consumer Protection Laws

    In order to educate and protect the consumers, the government had issued an act in order to protect the consumer in our country.

The Malaysia's Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA) (was amended on 2010) is an act which came into effect 1st October 1999. It is a piece of legislation enacted with the main objective to provide greater protection for consumers who acquires goods and services for personal, domestic or household use. This is vital for consumer as the provisions of this act cover areas not covered by other existing laws.

Under the Consumer Protection Act 1999, your rights granted cannot be taken away from you notwithstanding conditions in any agreement that you have signed. Consumers are also protected from products, services, and manufacturing processes that may expose their health and life to danger.

Meanwhile, the Trade Descriptions Act 1972 prohibits misdescription of goods provided in the course of trade and false or misleading indications as to the prices of goods, charges or rates for services, accommodation or facilities. This act was amended to include scratch and win scams, misleading advertisements, sale of imitations or fake products. On August 2011, Trade Descriptions Act 1972 has been subtituted with Trade Descriptions Act 2011.

Other acts protecting consumers are the Direct Sales Act 1993, the Weights and Measures Act 1972, the Hire Purchase Act 1967, the Control of Supplies Act 1961 and the Price Control Act 1946.

You may get the pdf version of the acts here:

Consumer Protection Act 1999

|| Malay version || English version ||

Trade Descriptions Act 1972

|| Malay version || English version ||

 

Trade Descriptions Act 2011

|| Malay version || English version ||

 

Direct Sales Act 1993

|| Malay version || English version ||

 

Weights and Measures Act 1972

|| Malay version || English version ||

Hire-Purchase Act 1967

|| Malay version || English version ||

 

Control of Supplies Act 1961

|| Malay version || English version ||

 

Price Control Act 1946

|| Malay version || English version ||

Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011

|| Malay version || English version ||

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Consumer Tribunals in Malaysia

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC)

Formerly known as the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs, the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC)  was established on October 27, 1990 with the aim towards encouraging ethical trade practices and to protect consumer interest.

MDTCC may publish in the Gazette a list of products considered unsafe to be sold and may then require the suppliers or manufacturers of the prohibited products to either recall the products, stop the sale and advertisements of the products, disclose to the public information relating to the characteristics which make the products unsafe, repair or replace the products or refund the purchasers.

The ministry's functions include managing matters related to consumer protection and intellectual property; licensing for manufacturing and sales, direct selling, and selling of petroleum and petrochemical products; implementing weights and measures rules; and registering of trusts companies and businesses. Official site features consumerism education, consumer claim tribunal, goods under price and supply control, acts, statistics, forum, e-aduan and e-tribunal.

The ministry has also set up an interactive and informative consumerism portal known as 1Malaysia Pengguna Bijak (1MPB). Consumer can update themselves with current price of 100 consumer items throughout Malaysia through Pricewatch module. It helps consumer plan their spending wisely through price comparison and know the nearest premise that offer fair price. 1MPB also provides SMS services to consumers - price check and subscriptions, complaint and tribunal claim.

Tribunal For Consumer Claims Malaysia

Tribunal For Consumer Claims Malaysia (or TTPM :- Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia) is an independent judicial body established under Section 85,  Part XII of the Consumer Protection Act 1999 and came into force on 15 November 1999.


The primary objective of establishing the Tribunal is to provide an alternative forum for consumers to file claims in a simple, inexpensive and speedy manner.

The Tribunal has the jurisdiction to hear:

1. any claim in respect of any matter within its jurisdiction   to  hear as provided for under the Act;
    
2. where the total amount claimed does not exceed RM25,000.00;
    
3. any claim in respect of any goods or services for which no redress mechanism is provided for under any other written law; and 
    
4. a claim based on a cause of action which accrues within three  years of the claim.

 For more info about TTPM, please go to the link here.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (FOMCA)

Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (FOMCA) is a national non-governmental organization that is voluntary, non-profit and non-political. It is an umbrella body of registered consumer associations in Malaysia.

FOMCA links the activities of consumer associations in Malaysia as well as at the international level and works towards strengthening consumer protection throughadvocacy, lobbying, networking, representation, campaigning and education.

FOMCA was formed primarily to:

• Strengthen the growth and spread of the organized consumer movement in Malaysia.
• Resolve consumer issues and promote the rights of consumers.
• Promote through the purchasing power of consumers a “need-oriented” development that will ensure socio-economic justice and environmental quality of life for all.
• Coordinate as an advisory body to all the other consumer organization in Malaysia.

Consumers Association Penang (CAP)

CAP is a grassroots non-profit, non-governmental organization registered as a society with the Registrar of Societies, Malaysia since 1970. Unlike consumer organizations in the western world that advice consumers on the value for their money, CAP stresses ‘value for people’.

Through the years, the scope of CAP's concerns has expanded from matters of daily living such as product price and quality to more complex problems of meeting basic human needs, saving the environment from further deterioration, safeguarding human health, advocating for food security and sustainable livelihoods.

As a defender of consumer rights and interests, CAP organizes community awareness campaigns on a broad spectrum of consumer, health, social, economy and environment issues that involves research, education, capacity building, organizing and media work.

Objectives of CAP include:-

• To educate consumers, balance consumer needs and degree of protection and to provide relevant consumer rights and entitlements.
• To advice individual consumers and protect their rights.
• To ensure prices of goods are fair and appropriate with relevance to its quality and value.
• To work with the existing laws in order to protect consumer’s interest and general health.
• To encourage the involvement of society and citizens (consumers) in the consideration, standardization and basic provision of their rights.
• To work towards ensuring production of high quality products.
• To study the fluctuations in the market with regards to the factors affecting it, and to advice or make suggestions to the ministry and organizations involved in the business and commercial sectors.
• To carry out activities such as the publication of bulletins and ceiling price lists, as well as forming market organizations and consumer clubs

Through the years, CAPs work has lead to the exposing unethical business behavior in sectors like chemical products, food, pharmaceuticals and health etc. CAP’s advocacy has led to some improvements in the laws to regulate these practices.

Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia (PPIM)

The Muslim Consumer Association of Malaysia (PPIM) was established in June 1997 by a group of conscientious Muslim professionals and individuals who were concerned with the growing challenges affecting Muslim consumers. PPIM was formed to safeguard the interests of Muslim consumers nationwide through proactive and strategically planned measures. 

Among the campaigns organized by PPIM is the usage of halal logo and the practice of halal certification policy by business industries as a way to inform and to reassure Muslim consumers that their products are  halal and shariah-compliant. Halal means “permissible”, and covers the aspects of slaughtering, storage, display, preparation, hygiene and sanitation. It covers food as well as non-food category of products.

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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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Consumerism

Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. Sometimes, the term "consumerism" is also used to refer to the consumerists’ movement, consumer or consumer activism, which seeks to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards. In this sense it is a movement or a set of policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer.

In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. In an abstract sense, it is the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society (compare producers, especially in the British sense of the term). The term "consumerism" goes back to at least 1915 in the sense of "advocacy of the rights and interests of consumers".

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Basic Consumer Rights

Consumers International (CI) introduced EIGHT basic consumer rights which in its view should be available to the consumer. These include the rights to:-

1. The right to satisfaction of basic needs
   To have access to basic, essential goods and services: adequate food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, public utilities, water and sanitation.
2. The right to safetyTo be protected against products, production processes and services that are hazardous to health or life.
3. The right to be informed
   To be given the facts needed to make an informed choice, and to be protected against dishonest or misleading advertising and labelling.
4. The right to choose
   To be able to select from a range of products and services, offered at competitive prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality.
    
5. The right to be heard
   To have consumer interests represented in the making and execution of government policy, and in the development of products and services.
    
6. The right to redress
   To receive a fair settlement of just claims, including compensation for misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services.
    
7. The right to consumer education
   To acquire knowledge and skills needed to make informed, confident choices about goods and services, while being aware of basic consumer rights and responsibilities and how to act on them.
    
8. The right to a healthy environment
   To live and work in an environment that is non-threatening to the well-being of present and future generations.

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Who Is Consumer?

A consumer is a person or group of people who are the final users of products and or services generated within a social system. Generally it means a person who buys goods and services for his personal use or for domestic or household purpose. The concept of a consumer may vary significantly by context, although a common definition is an individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale.

In term of economics and marketing, the consumer is the one who pays to consume the goods and services produced. In the absence of effective consumer demand, producers would lack one of the key motivations to sell to consumers.

On the other hand, the law primarily uses the notion of the consumer in relation to consumer protection laws, and the definition of consumer is often restricted to living persons and excludes commercial users. A typical legal rationale for protecting the consumer is based on the notion of policing market failures and inefficiencies, such as inequalities of bargaining power between a consumer and a business. As of all potential voters are also consumers, consumer protection takes on a clear political significance.

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