Kazakhstanis will have a new algorithm for protecting consumer rights

The Consumer Protection Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Integration reported to the Government of the country on the results of work on consumer protection issues.

The problems voiced in the report were previously discussed at the interdepartmental council, which includes the heads of state agencies, NCE "Atameken", public associations, chambers of mediators and arbitration.

The report to the government notes that in the first half of 2021, the Consumer Protection Committee received 8,164 appeals. This is almost 2.5 thousand more requests compared to the same period in 2020.

 

In the first six months of 2021, government agencies considered 21,100 consumer complaints within their competence. This is 5,061 fewer appeals than last year.

Most of the complaints, which increased by 2.4 times, account for retail trade. They are mainly related to refusals to refund funds for the sale of low-quality goods.

The number of requests in terms of e-commerce has increased 3.6 times.

 

According to the analysis, consumer rights are most often violated in the field of medical services, where the number of complaints increased by 72%. Citizens' discontent is connected with the increase in prices for medicines in pharmacies, long waiting for emergency medical care, queues in polyclinics, low qualification of medical specialists.

In addition, the authorized body in the field of healthcare conducted product safety monitoring, during which 12,117 samples of food products were examined, of which 1,376 did not meet the established requirements.

Also, a lot of complaints from the population were received to financial, transport services, communications, housing and communal services.

In the financial sector, complaints were received regarding the activities of second-tier banks and organizations engaged in certain types of banking operations, microfinance, insurance organizations, and so on.

 

In the field of transport services, there is a decrease in the number of requests by almost 6 times, which is associated with a decrease in citizens' trips due to the pandemic. In the field of communications, the statistics of appeals also decreased. The main reasons for complaints are the poor quality of the Internet, the difficulty of changing the tariff, unreasonable collection of funds.

Complaints about housing and communal services are related to poor-quality heat and power supply services, excessive tariffs and unreasonable charges for utility bills, illegal inspections and replacement of electricity meters, power outages and many other problems.

In 2020, a survey was conducted on consumer protection issues, the results of which revealed the greatest dissatisfaction of citizens with the work of healthcare.

 

45.9% of respondents negatively assessed the quality of medical care. Residents of Almaty – 65.5%, Almaty region – 61.1% and East Kazakhstan region - 60.0% are more dissatisfied with these services.

In second place was railway transport, where the percentage of dissatisfaction of respondents is 43.2%.

Those who are not satisfied with the quality of the railway services provided, most of all live in Shymkent - 51.4%, Almaty - 50.3%, Almaty region - 48.8%.

The same applies to intercity and road transport, which received 42% of negative responses.

 

Residents of East Kazakhstan region - 52.1%, Almaty region - 49.1% and Almaty - 46.6% are not satisfied with the quality of services in this area. The majority of residents in Almaty – 13.5%, Zhambyl region - 12.6% and Kostanay region - 12.6% do not use these services or found it difficult to answer.

The quality of educational services does not suit 41.6% of respondents living in East Kazakhstan – 57.6%, Almaty - 53.2% and Almaty region - 50.8%.

Completing the top five most problematic areas are communication services with a critical indicator of 35.9%.

Residents of Almaty – 59.1%, Almaty region – 55.0% and Shymkent – 43.8% are not satisfied with the quality of services in the field of mobile communications.

 

The report to the government also stated that judicial practice shows that consumers, before going to court, must consistently go through the first two stages of the three-stage mechanism, stage 1 - the seller and the subject of pre-trial settlement of consumer disputes, stage 2 - the state body.

In 5 months of 2021, 916 lawsuits were filed in consumer disputes courts. Of these, 339 or 37% were returned for pre-trial settlement at stage 1, 235 or 26% were returned with reference to the need to apply to the Authorized Body.

In this regard, it is proposed to amend the norm of the law, eliminating in it an unnecessary barrier to the implementation of the constitutional right of the consumer to judicial protection.

 

There are other gaps in the current law enforcement practice in the field of consumer rights protection, which are planned to be eliminated in the 2nd package of amendments to the legislation.

On June 25, 2021, the first meeting of the Interdepartmental Council for Consumer Protection was held, where proposals for improving the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan were discussed, and a draft Concept for the 2nd package of amendments to the law was considered with the participation of deputies, members of the MIT Public Council, heads of ministries.

On June 30 of this year, the portal of open NPAs posted a revised Concept for the 2nd package of amendments on consumer protection issues for public discussion. As a result, 56 comments were received, to which responses were sent.

 

On October 8, within the framework of the requirements of the rules of legislative work, a debate was held between representatives of target groups: consumer protection societies and subjects of bickering.

As amendments to the law "On Consumer Rights Protection", it is proposed to create a legislative basis for the work of a Single organization for Consumer Rights protection and the institution of an ombudsman in this area, to establish clear legal regulation of the sale of goods remotely, to introduce an institution for charging penalties from unscrupulous entrepreneurs equal to the amount of damage caused to the consumer.

Other measures have also been proposed that will strengthen the system of consumer protection.

It is assumed that the level of efficiency and state regulation in this area will reach at least 80% by 2025, which will entail an improvement in the quality of life of society.