Azerbaijan Looks To Expand Consumer Protections
The USAID Trade and Investment Reform Support Program (TIRSP) and the Government of Azerbaijan jointly held the “Protection of Consumer Rights: Realities, Perspectives” Conference on March 18, 2008 in Azerbaijan. There were over 150 attendees from state bodies, local and international non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, and private enterprises.
In his opening remarks, Azerbaijan’s Minister for Economic Development Heydar Babayev emphasized the importance of identifying consumer rights infractions and seeking solutions, referring to the Law on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights, which was adopted based on the UN consumer rights principles.
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| U.S. Ambassador Anne Derse and Azerbiajan’s Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev discuss the importance of consumer rights protection |
U.S. Ambassador Anne Derse highlighted the importance of consumer rights protection in light of Azerbaijan’s intention to accede the World Trade Organization. She also noted USAID’s support in helping Azerbaijan meet this objective, acknowledging that the Government must coordinate its work with producers and consumers in order to ensure rights protections. But Ambassador Derse warned, “The actions taken should not artificially limit the growth of trade or lead to the growth of prices.”
Thomas Deeb, representing USAID’s TIRSP, summarized the WTO/Codex Role of Consumers stressing the importance of the partnership between government, industry, and consumer organizations in support of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. He also shared U.S. experience in consumer advocacy speaking, in particular, about the Voice of Consumers activities.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev spoke about a task force under the Ministry of Agriculture which conducts market monitoring of foodstuffs.
Chairman of State Agency on Standardization, Metrology and Patent Arif Ashrafov mentioned the need to coordinate activities when dealing with consumer rights’ protections. “Another serious problem is the [need for] improvement of legislation in the given area and increasing the penalty rates charged for irregularities both by producers and traders,” he opined.
This view was shared by Ziyad Samadzade, the Head of Parliamentary Commission on Economic Policy, who supports the creation of a separate body to regulate consumer markets. “Besides, I think it is necessary to improve the system of training personnel in this area,” he said.
Eyyub Huseynov, the Chairman of the Association for Protection of Consumers’ Rights, stated that a consumer policy has not yet been formed in Azerbaijan. “We mostly receive complaints about utility sector services. The worst thing is that there is no practice for concluding agreements between the client and the utility companies. This makes it difficult to protect the right of a consumer when it is violated,” he explained.
The conference was successful in highlighting the current state of consumer rights and in charting a path of reforms that could lead to greater protections.
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