Czech Republic marks World Consumer Rights Day
March 15th the world celebrates Consumer Rights Day - an annual event highlighting consumer rights and issues both locally and internationally. The theme for 2004 is water, or more precisely the lack of it in many parts of the world. The Consumers' Defence Association of the Czech Republic has joined the event along with over 250 consumer organisations from all over the world.
"In the worldwide context the most important issue right now is water. For us it might be very simple that you turn the tap and you get water but a very big part of the population on earth does not have access to clean water and in the European context the topic of today's World Consumer Rights Day is the European Parliament. There will be an election to the European Parliament this year and the European Parliament targets a number of consumer topics. Consumers aren't familiar with the European Parliament, they don't know what to expect. For them it is something far away, in Brussels or Strasbourg and they don't feel the closeness to their problems."
The Consumers' Defence Association of the Czech Republic was founded in 1993 as an independent organisation representing consumers in the fight for their rights. The association's deputy head Karel Pavlik says that over the years the situation has improved in the country.
"In the previous years the legal situation of Czech consumers improved significantly through the implementation of European directives. But there is the problem that consumers often don't know their rights and don't know how to apply and enforce them. And this is the main problem for consumers. There is a strong need for consumer education and to inform consumers what rights they have now and how to use them."
Dissatisfied consumers in the Czech Republic often contact the offices of Consumers' Defence Association with different problems they experience, either through their website or a telephone helpline.
"Formerly it were mostly just problems with products but now there are more and more problems with services like financial services telecommunications. This is a difficult situation for them because the contracts, for example, for financial services are very complex and not easy to understand. So very often they need the help of some professionals because it is not possible for them to handle the problem directly."
