A safer market begins with stronger consumer rights

Adulterated goods, market syndicates, artificially engineered price hikes, and shelves stocked with expired or chemically tainted products remain everyday hazards for Bangladeshi consumers. At the helm of the Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection, newly appointed Director General Md Jahirul Islam (Additional Secretary) spoke to The Daily Observer about the Directorate's ongoing efforts and the road ahead. The interview was conducted by Ahasan Uddin Bhuiyan, Md Rial Uddin and Foyjunnesa Sharmin.

Observer: Consumers encounter contaminated food, syndicates and sudden price hikes almost daily. How effective has the Directorate actually been in addressing this?
Jahirul Islam: The Consumers' Rights Protection Act was enacted in 2009 and it is this legislation that anchors our work. We operate across three broad categories: remedial, preventive and service-oriented functions, though our principal mandate is remedial. On the remedial side, we run the Consumer Complaint Management System (CCMS), through which citizens lodge grievances directly. Every complaint is heard properly, and where the evidence substantiates the allegation, a penalty follows.

On the preventive front, we conduct market monitoring to keep prices stable, working closely with the Ministry of Commerce, alongside our own teams at district, divisional and headquarters level who inspect shops regularly. We also act suo motu, even without a formal complaint. Interestingly, several major manufacturers �" Square Group, Pran Group, City Group, Nestlé among them �" have approached us themselves, reporting that counterfeit versions of their products are being sold under their names. We have told them: work with us. Report the fakes to our officers, and together we can both protect consumers and safeguard your genuine goods from imitation.
Our objective is never simply to fine people. Penalties are the last resort, applied where the law genuinely must be enforced. In many cases, a warning suffices. Correction, not punishment, remains our guiding principle.

Take food, for instance. It is a basic necessity of life, yet adulteration has crept into nearly every category of edible product in this country. I do not believe such wilful contamination occurs anywhere else in the world with quite this deliberateness.

Ending it requires more than the Directorate acting alone. Other government bodies, businesses and citizens must all become vigilant. The Safe Food Authority’s law is stringent, with substantial penalties, yet the practice persists. That is precisely why we continue this work daily.

Observer:The Act has now been in force for seventeen years, yet complaints continue to rise. Food adulteration, as you note, is essentially slow poisoning, harming not just one individual but an entire community. How effective can precautionary measures really be?
Jahirul Islam:Awareness remains central. We must convince traders that adulteration poses a grave threat to public health and is fuelling the rise in non communicable diseases, diabetes, typhoid and gastrointestinal illness, that we see daily. I receive complaints directly, often by mobile phone, a parent reporting a shop near their child's school, or, as happened recently, someone who fell ill after eating a contaminated cake. We dispatch inspection teams immediately in such cases, and information provided by journalists is often equally valuable to us.

Observer: How effective is financial penalty as a deterrent?
Jahirul Islam:It is a structured mechanism. The Act is notably robust, as it even empowers the Director General to authorise arrest where an investigation confirms serious wrongdoing. We prefer not to reach that stage. Our first instinct is awareness building through programmes run at district, divisional and headquarters levels, aimed at encouraging consumers to avoid counterfeit goods and traders to conduct business honestly. The Directorate positions itself as a mediator between the two. Where adulterated medicine causes illness, appropriate medical certification can serve as evidence, and where it results in death, the law permits prosecution, including suo motu action by this office.

Observer: What awareness campaigns are currently underway?
Jahirul Islam: We produce leaflets and television commercials, with fresh TVCs planned, and I intend to deliver some messages personally through our media cell. Physical workshops are held at district level, and organisations such as GAIN, the National Heart Foundation and BRAC have expressed interest in partnering with us. We are also considering permanent signboards at key market locations, as well as a recognition scheme, with certificates awarded to traders who correct their conduct following inspection. I believe that once recognised, a shopkeeper willthink twice before stocking counterfeit goods again. It is ambitious, but worth pursuing.

Observer: For repeat offenders, those seemingly habituated to malpractice, what measures are you considering?
Jahirul Islam: Where a single establishment, be if a hotel, bakery, pastry shop or sweet shop, is fined three or four times without any correction, we consider that trader to have forfeited the ethical standing to continue business and we are exploring sealing such premises altogether.

Observer: As an aggrieved consumer who reports a violation, how do I receive compensation once the fine is deposited with the state treasury?
Jahirul Islam: Under the Act's definition, the consumer must be genuinely aggrieved, meaning the complainant must actually have purchased the product. There is a common misconception that a third party can simply report a suspected violation and later claim a share of the fine, but that is not how it works. Only the consumer who purchased the good, suffered a loss and substantiated the complaint with evidence, an invoice, for instance, is entitled to twenty five per cent of the penalty imposed.

Observer: Commerce increasingly happens online, via Facebook and social media, where fraud is rife. How is digital marketing being monitored?
Jahirul Islam: The 2009 Act does not currently address e-commerce. We have proposed to the Ministry of Commerce that online trade be formally brought within its scope. Once approved, we will have clearer authority to act. Meanwhile, we forward relevant complaints to the Ministry's IT wing, and in serious cases, such as a recent fraudulent transaction involving mobile financial services, we refer matters directly to the CID.

Observer: Many consumers find the complaints process cumbersome. Might a simpler digital platform help?
Jahirul Islam: Our CCMS software is not especially complex, but we are developing an Android application to make lodging complaints even easier, and I have already instructed my colleagues to begin work on it. We expect to launch it soon.