21/10/1995
Dr Sobhi Mansour submitted a working paper titled “ Protection of Consumer Rights Regarding Basic Knowledge about Commodities“. The paper seeks to attract attention to encroachment practices and breaches on consumer rights regarding basic knowledge about commodities used in this regard. The working paper reviewed outlines for consumer protection and scientific methods to execute actual application of this right in daily life. It also handled three components about commodities: Knowledge of commodity nature and its properties, its degree of quality and its guarantee of quality and the real commodity price in light of actual production cost and supply and demand.(Available in Arabic – German in PDF)
The paper presented propositions to protect the rights of consumers regarding their knowledge about the nature and properties of commodities. Egyptian law warrants consumers the right of protection in knowing the commodity’s nature and properties. Encroachment on these rights results in the consumer being cheated and uninformed about the commodity. Therefore, the way of implementing the law and penalties is inadequate, so there is no doubt that encouraging the establishment of non-governmental laboratories for commodity inspection and evaluation can provide the consumer protection regarding basic knowledge about the commodity. The consumer has the right to know the commodity’s real price. Market prices can’t be left, under the market mechanism economy, without scientific observation to ensure that market mechanisms, away from monopoly, determine the commodity’s actual price. This encourages the establishment of non-governmental and governmental local price bodies to take over the task of providing the protection required by consumers, enabling them to have knowledge about the commodity’s real price. The protection of consumer rights can become practical with real and effective support by the media, price bodies, laboratories of commodity inspection and evaluation and market movement.
