Celebrating 20 years of consumer protection

Celebrating 20 years of consumer protection

03-April-2014

The National Consumers Forum (Natcof) which was set up on April 22, 1994, will celebrate its twenty years of existence on April 22 this year with three major celebrations.

They are an international conference, an exhibition of the unit’s work done during these twenty years and an award ceremony recognising founder members of the association.

The celebrations will fall under the theme ‘Celebrating 20 years of Consumer Protection’ in Seychelles.

“We will hold an international conference as the main activity on April 22 itself at the Seychelles Trading Company’s conference centre,” said Natcof’s chairperson Raymonde Course.

Mrs Course said that because Natcof is a full member of Consumers International, representatives of this world body will also attend.

But before the international conference, Mrs Course said Natcof will hold an exhibition of photos and writings portraying the works done by the unit for consumer protection during the twenty years of its existence. The exhibition will take place at the gallery on the ground floor of Independence House.

The third major activity on the agenda is an award ceremony at the STC’s Club 55 where founder members of Natcof will be recognised and awarded for their contributions in setting up the unit. “Without them Natcof would not be where it is today,” said Mrs Course.

“This event will also be held on April 22 just after the international conference as we are hoping to have the Consumers International representatives present,” Mrs Course said.
“As the twenty years celebrations will last throughout the year, there will always be some ongoing activities of some sort internally not really ‘en masse’,” she noted.

The poster ‘Natcof – Celebrating 20 years of Consumer Protection’ has been destined as advert to be stuck on the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation’s buses.
Natcof has also produced stickers for the Seychelles Licensing Authority to be used on vehicles.

Mrs Course also described briefly the role of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) vis-à-vis Natcof as sometimes the public are not really clear of their two roles.

She said FTC administers the law where consumers are concerned while Natcof is more or less the consumers’ watchdog.

Going through a brief history of Natcof, Mrs Course said it all started with a group of people described as founding members who wanted a unit that will protect the consumers.
“We had to study and learn about consumers, consumerism, the advantages and disadvantages, what should be done and procedures needed to set up an organisation, in which country does such an organisation exist, in fact all that was needed to put up an organisation,” said Mrs Course.

She added that after the set up there was also the dilemma of how to make the organisation grow and make it carry out what it is supposed to do.

She said while they were getting in contact with international organisations with the same purpose, they came across a regional body in Africa for countries of the African region. It was there that they received lots of help in capacity building, enabling them to manage and run the then newly established Natcof.

At that time Lungos, which was already in existence in Seychelles, also helped them in how to manage a non-governmental organisation (NGO) body.
And today Natcof is focusing more on educating the public, especially school children. In fact, consumer education is now taught in schools.

“Consumers should know their rights and how to take their responsibilities when entering the market for their transactions,” said Mrs Course.

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