21/10/1995
Mr. Hamdy Helmy Ahmed Gaber submitted a working paper regarding civil societies and their role in consumer protection. The paper asserted that the state has strict supply roles and regulations that can stand up to the negative phenomena that recently emerged in the Egyptian market. However, without popular participation, laws and regulations do not succeed in the implementation of consumer protection procedures.(Available in Arabic – German in PDF)
The paper asserted that official bodies have an important role in the participation of consumer protection. It focused on several points on top of which is that the state’s official bodies should support the establishment of consumer protection by civil societies. The former minister of insurance and social affairs Dr. Amal Osman issued a decision on December 6th, 1994 allowing civil societies to add consumer protection to their regular activities. The decision granted civil societies a 6-month grace period to amend their bylaws and statutes putting consumer protection on top of their priorities. The paper added that civil societies should have a role in price control, through informing citizens of alternative commodities in case of an unjustified increase in the price of a certain commodity. One of civil societies‘ top priorities should be to practice control over commodities and their quality, by informing the bodies concerned of any violation to the quality of standards. Among the top goals of civil societies should be the protection of respectable merchants.
