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Broaden consumer rights

Updated: 2012-03-16 13:42

(China Daily)

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The realization of all the high hopes pinned on Chinese consumers hinges on not only how equally they are enriched but also how forcefully they are empowered, a perennial theme of International Consumer Rights Day observed on Thursday.

Domestically, Chinese consumers are being enthusiastically encouraged to loosen their purse strings as the government tries hard to boost domestic consumption into a key growth engine.

Internationally, they are being wooed to succeed their European and US counterparts as the means to keep the global economy humming.

Certainly the potential of Chinese consumers is beyond doubt. Consumer spending currently comprises only about 35 percent of China's gross domestic product, far below the average in developed countries and also below the average in many developing countries.

However, to set in motion a domestic consumption boom to facilitate the transformation of China's development mode toward consumer-led growth, policymakers urgently need to deepen consumers' pockets in a fairer way.

In this regard, it is particularly reassuring that Premier Wen Jiabao vowed during his news conference after the annual session of the National People's Congress on Wednesday that the Chinese government will formulate an overall scheme this year for income distribution reform.

Equally important for boosting domestic consumption, policymakers should decisively strengthen Chinese consumers' rights.

China's authorities retrieved 990 million yuan ($156.3 million) for cheated consumers last year while launching a series of national campaigns to crack down on serious food safety problems. Such efforts are certainly needed to ensure consumers' rights and protect them against all products, processes, and services that are harmful to health or potentially life threatening.

Yet, along with their increasingly heavier purses, Chinese consumers are becoming more aware of their other basic rights, such as the right to select from a range of products and services offered at competitive prices with an assurance of quality.

A case in point is a recent anti-monopoly investigation that forced two State telecommunication giants to agree to cut fees for Internet connections. Clearly, the industrial watchdog has recognized that consumers' right to choose is more important than monopoly profits on the supply side.

It is hoped that more such cases against monopoly industries, especially in the underdeveloped service sector, will be initiated to better satisfy and stimulate domestic consumer demand.

After all, consumer-led growth is only possible when consumer rights are timely broadened and better protected.

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