Kazakhstanis complain about negligent businessmen

The rights of consumers in the market of goods and services are violated daily. This fact is confirmed by about 6 thousand complaints received by the Consumer Protection Committee for the first quarter of 2021.

The main stream of complaints from consumers fell on the share of unscrupulous entrepreneurs of small and micro businesses. Based on this, the regional departments of the Committee conducted 23 unscheduled inspections against businessmen who were liable in the form of fines and received warnings.

For the first quarter of 2021, out of the total number of complaints, the agency satisfied 958, and forwarded 313 to the relevant authorities. About 2000 people received explanations in accordance with the current legislation.

As part of the measures, more than 23 million tenge was returned to Kazakhstani consumers.

It should be noted that the system of consumer protection is undergoing a series of significant reforms. All because the existing legal norms are outdated, and the number of violations of consumer rights has increased significantly. This was proved by the results of 2020, during which the Committee and its territorial bodies received 20,919 complaints. This is 3.5 times more than in the same period of 2019.

An analysis of citizens ' complaints revealed that the increase in the number of complaints was associated with the pandemic and the restrictive measures imposed, which violated the rights of consumers.

Most often, Kazakhstanis complained about the poor quality of transport services. Next in this unfavorable rating is retail trade, household and tourist services. The service in the areas of e-commerce, communications, housing and utilities, finance, public catering, medicine and other industries did not escape popular indignation.

According to the results of last year, the Committee satisfied 7380 complaints, forwarded them to the relevant state bodies – 3863, provided explanations-9577.

As part of the measures taken, more than 249 million tenge was returned to consumers, including through the court.

By the way, in 2020, the Committee and its divisions for the first time in the last 6 years resumed the practice of protecting the rights of an indefinite number of consumers in the courts.

A total of 4 class-action lawsuits were filed against Bek Air during the year. The Committee represented 1,740 people. The total amount of claims amounted to 106.7 million tenge. At the same time, 2 claims were satisfied by the courts of the first and second instance, and entered into legal force.

Also, the collective claim of the Department for Consumer Protection of the West Kazakhstan Region against Samer LLP was fully satisfied. The case was related to the issue of compensation to 12 consumers of funds in the amount of 1.7 million tenge for poor-quality furniture manufacturing.

The State, with the assistance of NGOs, is carrying out a number of reforms aimed at modernizing the system of consumer rights protection.

On June 25, 2020, the 1st package of amendments to the Law "On Consumer Rights Protection"was adopted. Thanks to this, a 3-step mechanism for dealing with consumer complaints was introduced. At the same time, the entrepreneur can now quickly resolve the conflict with the client on the principle of "solve here and now". This reduces the time and resources of the parties, reduces the pressure on business and the burden on the courts.

Changes in the law have differentiated control into "state" and "public", which helps consumers to restore their rights before the administrative impact on the business.

A list of professional human rights defenders has been formed, whose competence and moral principles determine the outcome of the dispute, and, accordingly, the future mood of the consumer.

The importance of consumer problems is increased due to the assessment of the activities of state bodies by the Interdepartmental Council established under the Government.

A unified information system for receiving consumer Complaints has been put into operation in a pilot mode. It shows the real picture of incoming appeals and the legality of decisions taken by state bodies on them.

In April 2021, the draft Concept for the 2nd package of amendments to the Law was sent for consideration to the state bodies, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken" and the Republican Association of Consumers of Kazakhstan, representing the interests of 30 NGOs for the protection of consumer rights. The text of the draft Concept for public discussion is available on the official Internet resource of the Committee.

From February to May, working meetings were held with representatives of NGOs and government agencies on strengthening consumer protection and explaining the main provisions reflected in the draft Concept.

In addition, a number of governmental and international events were held last year, which had a positive impact on the reform of the consumer rights protection system.

A lot of tasks are being implemented by the department in 2021. One of the most important is the development of the 2nd package of amendments to the Law "On Consumer Protection". This work is aimed at strengthening civil society in the system of consumer rights protection. The innovations will help to unite public associations of consumers by consolidating into one association on the principle of "from quantity to quality".

The proposed new institution will ensure equal opportunities for all NGOs, especially those located in rural areas. Normative adjustments will help to form a fair civil society through a uniform approach to work, to develop narrow-profile areas in the activities of NGOs in all sectors: trade, finance, medicine, tourism, education, etc. It also minimizes the state's involvement in resolving consumer disputes.

The amendments to the law bring a number of other positive changes. In particular, we are talking about strengthening public control over the activities of state bodies by introducing the institution of an ombudsman for the protection of consumer rights.

Public associations will be provided with funding through receiving rewards from the amount of fines reimbursed to the consumer.

The improvement of the remote method of selling goods will continue, taking into account the active development of the e-commerce sector.

The issue of harmonization of national legislation in the field of consumer protection with the EAEU member states will be actively resolved by introducing the concept of "technically complex goods", as well as the conditions for the return and exchange of technically complex goods when significant or insignificant shortcomings are found.

The basic principles of the industry Law will apply to the areas of financial, social, medical, tourism and other services.

And in general, the new rules will help to eliminate the existing gaps in legislation affecting the sphere of consumer protection