National Consumer Policy 2018 – 2023.

The National Consumer Policy is a national policy with a cross-sectoral approach. The timeframe of the Policy is 5 years between 2018 and 2023. The overall aim of this Policy is to improve consumer’s wellbeing through enhanced protection and empowerment of consumers and enabling confident participation of consumers and suppliers in the market place taking into account regional and international commitments. The objectives of this Policy are: (I) updating and strengthening the existing legal and regulatory framework for consumer protection, (II) empowering consumers by informing them of their rights and responsibilities, (III) providing accessible and efficient redress systems for consumer protection issues, and (IV) preventing unfair business practices.
The general lack of awareness of consumers on their rights and responsibilities will be fulfilled through public awareness-raising. The country-wide consumer educational campaigns will be carried out to enable more informed and empowered consumers and better protection of consumers’ interests and rights. Moreover, lectures will be given to consumers and suppliers about unfair trade practices and unfair contract terms. The industry codes of practice as a means of co-regulation for specific standards will be developed and implemented. Therefore, a detailed framework for the development and use of both mandatory and voluntary codes of practice will be integrated into the Consumer Protection legislation. The voluntary and compulsory standards on the importation of all food and other products into the country will be enforced by the Consumer Affairs Division in collaboration with the Chemistry Food and Drugs Division and the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards. In addition to that, all aspects of imported and manufactured food and drug items will be monitored by the Chemistry Food and Drugs Division. Institutional framework will be developed for effective redress system and consumer protection regime. The collaboration among the Consumer Affairs Division and other agencies on consumer protection issues and remedies will be developed. Furthermore, institutional capacity building will be enhanced for exchange programmes with other countries, and improved research and data management and collection. The database system will be updated to monitor consumer-oriented issues such as legal compliance, consumer confidence, consumer complaints and prices.
The Consumer Affairs Division shall be responsible for developing a comprehensive implementation plan for this Policy and also for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of this Policy. Data management will be strengthened for effective policy monitoring and evaluation and decision-making. The Policy will be evaluated over the next five years, to observe if specific targets, objectives and deliverables are being achieved. Additionally, the Consumer Affairs Division shall monitor regional and worldwide consumer developments with a view to identifying issues that may be of particular significance.