The non-profit Consumers’ Foundation yesterday accused the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) of adopting double standards and interfering in Taiwan’s internal affairs, after the latter said in its annual white paper that the nation’s Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法) was overprotective of consumers.
“It is not the first time AmCham has made such a remark. In the white paper it published last year, it said that government protectionism had created an environment of consumer populism in the country and deterred foreign enterprises from entering the Taiwanese market,” Consumers’ Foundation chairman Mark Chang (張智剛) told a press conference.
In its latest white paper, published last month, AmCham urged the Taiwanese government to adopt “reasonable revisions” to the Consumer Protection Act to eliminate some of its unreasonable and impractical regulations, such as giving the relevant administrative body the authority to mandate the terms in standard contracts with consumers and to inspect businesses without due cause, as well as entitling consumers to a seven-day trial period for intangible goods and services.
“First of all, the act only stipulates what must be and what must not be included in consumer contracts, for the sole purpose of safeguarding the interest of consumers... [The relevant administrative body] is neither entitled to interfere with the main contents of such contracts nor to impose fines on companies that fail to comply with the contract requirements,” Chang said.
By contrast, the US’ Federal Trade Commission — the US equivalent of Taiwan’s Department of Consumer Protection — is allowed to issue a cease and desist order to force an advertiser to stop running false or misleading advertisements and to take legal action on behalf of affected consumers, Chang said.
“I think it is self-evident that the US government offers far better and more extensive protection for its consumers than its Taiwanese counterpart,” Chang added.
Consumers’ Foundation secretary-general Lei Li-fen (雷立芬) said that while US courts often help secure substantial compensation for damages sustained by consumers, Taiwan’s judicial system is notorious for its continued disregard of public interests.
“For instance, a US court in 1994 ruled that fast-food giant McDonald’s should pay US$2.86 million in compensation to a 79-year-old woman who suffered burns on her thigh from a spilled hot coffee. Meanwhile, last year, the New Taipei City District Court only awarded NT$1.27 million [US$43,100] to a group of more than 500 victims of a 2011 plasticizer scare,” Lei said.
Citing former US president John F. Kennedy’s Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest issued on March 15, 1962, Lei urged AmCham to attach the same importance to Taiwanese consumers’ rights and interests as Kennedy once did to those of US consumers.
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