- On reading the title of this article, the representatives of consumer protection organizations in advanced countries who participated in a recently-held two-day forum — Consumer Protection in Saudi Arabia Symposium — organized by the Institute of Public Administration might believe that the content of this article has been written in support of traders and business owners who often go on about the unending demands of consumer protection bodies.
It is true that businessmen in countries from where these delegates came from, such as Britain, Singapore and the United States, frequently complain about mounting pressures that they face from consumer protection bodies that relentlessly look for the slightest problems customers could face with eagle eyes.
It is, however, unheard of consumers demanding protection from consumer protection bodies. That is why foreigners participating in this forum will never understand why customers in the Kingdom need protection from the Saudi Society for Consumer Protection.
The Institute of Public Administration should be thanked for organizing the forum, the holding of which has compensated the deficiency in activities on the matter.
I also wonder whether I am right to use the word “deficiency” because deficiencies occur only when one does something, albeit not in the desired manner. I think it would be fair to consider using the word “deficiency” here as inappropriate.
The organization that is tasked with protecting the rights of consumers in the Kingdom has not, since its establishment, done anything to protect the interests of those it is supposed to protect except to print expensive booklets.
However, what I fear worse is that these booklets have been printed to mislead foreign participants at the forum into believing that the organization is very active. I also fear that the Saudi Society for Consumer Protection has concealed from these foreign delegates the fact that its stance on the issue of the hike in car prices in the Kingdom was not against consumer interests. The society failed to take any steps in protecting the interests of Saudi car owners.
It should also be noted that the society has not taken up even a single case against business establishments in the interests of consumers.
The absence of a society that protects the rights of consumers is a thousand times better than having a fictitious one that attempts to mislead others. This is the reason why we need someone to protect us from the consumer protection agency in the Kingdom.
([email protected])