Consumer protection given priority

01 July 2010

Over the last few months, every week the local press has contained several articles on issues relating to consumer protection. Consumer Protection Day in March was an occasion for various events and initiatives to raise the profile of issues affecting consumers and to increase awareness of the rights of consumers – rights which are now enshrined in the Consumer Protection Law of 2008.

One initiative from the Minister of Economy and Trade, who is responsible for consumer protection, was the issue of a decision to restructure the offices that deal with consumer protection across 17 different ministries. Each office is to have a head, at the level of director, effectively raising the status of the consumer protection office within each of the ministries. Article 30 of the law says that the role of consumer protection offices in the ministries is to provide support to consumer protection associations that are to "protect and defend the interests of consumers".

One of the rights of consumers, as expressed in the new law, is the right to receive a receipt of purchase (Article 19). The Ministry of Finance began a media campaign to encourage consumers to get a receipt for their purchases. One newspaper advertisement read: "The receipt: insurance for your rights in commercial disputes." In an economy in which most transactions are undocumented, this appeared to be a major step forward, both for consumers and the tax office.

There are a number of points of overlap between the Consumer Protection Law and the Trade mark Law that brand owners should keep in mind such as the provisions of the consumer law prohibiting misleading and deceptive commercial practices and advertising, as well as those specifying labelling content. There is also Article 33, which requires trade marks to be put on products in accordance with the Trade Mark Law. The reference is probably to Article 6 of the Trade Mark Law. For products of Syrian origin, trade marks must be written in Arabic and may have foreign characters of equal size beside the mark. Goods of foreign origin may bear only foreign trade marks. Products made under licence in Syria may bear the foreign mark only but must carry the expression "Manufactured or bottled in Syria under licence from [the licensor]" in Arabic. Marks that fail to comply with these requirements under the Trade Mark Law are to be denied registration and renewal. How that will work in practice is unclear since there is no requirement to submit samples of use to the Trade marks Office. The penal provisions of the Consumer Protection Law do not punish non-compliance with Article 6 of the Trade Mark Law.