New Consumer protection Act in a fortnight: Trade Minister

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Whilst highlighting that there are loopholes in existing laws which protects consumers, Minister of Trade Nalin Fernando yesterday said a new Bill will be introduced in two weeks’ time.  

“The Current law provides provision only to take action against retailers. This prevents us from ensuring essential goods are sold at affordable prices. The new laws which  are being drawn up will also provide provision to take action against producers who are engaged in earning high profits in an unfair manner,” the Minister told Parliament.  

“There have been 1527 instances of violations of consumer rights while 4374 such instances in 2023 and 7662 instances in 2022 had been detected. These have been a result of loop holes in the law,” he added.