Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel/President Ambassador’ forum in UK/SL

Cost of Living

Cost of living is the cost of living of an average family computed in various ways for the purpose of computation of the official cost of living giving guidance that increases every due to various factors beyond the control of the governance and the consumer who is always in the receiving end. It is the accepted norm that a consumer must have a sufficient earning to make ends meet always the governance is supposed to be responsible for, as it is governance that is responsible for the control of prices of consumer items directly and indirectly mainly in the open economy where trader and consumer meet eve to eve in dealing with the prices of consumer items. Prizes of consumer items are never static though the income varies based on the development of the economic situation of the country, where poor and poorest are the most affected. It is the duty of the rulers to find ways to ease their burden and the organization is bound to protect them and the legal system is duty-bound to protect the deprived group of the casualty.

Consumer

There is a general saying that the consumer is a king and powerful as he can control the trader by organized consumerism if and when they are well organized as in the west, which is not the reality as the consumer in Sri Lanka is not as organized as consumers in the west who are well organized. When ‘’Coka Cola’’ used water in Thams River it is the media and the consumer organization’s that agitated against to kneel down the company to correct the mistake made. 999agitations on consumerisms on behalf of the consumer agitating for consumer items and services of quality at a reasonable prize, but the prize hikes during the festive season continues to date and it is the duty if the consumer to take precautionary measures to take preventive measures. Despite the bread ordinance and act of measure of weights in force the price of bread and consumer items increase at a steady rate at the discretion of the trader enjoying free trade in the absence of the prize control act not in force on free economic regime. Price of bread few pence some years ago is over on pound today varying prizes depending on the weight and quality of bread in different supermarkets, which applies to all other consumer items when the consumer is complaining of the high prices, which is a universal scenario. In short every citizen is a computer and it is the duty of the governance to provide facilities to the cross section of the entire society considering every citizen a consumer.

solution

What is the solution for the high cost is a matter being discussed in many forums with no proper answer with one answer on application of competition and competition law and process linked to consumer activism via organize consumer organizations. Trader and industrialist is a group required for the society to carry on consumerism and they say consumer is always right and it is the duty of the trader , industrialist and the regulator to give due place to the consumer for a proper consumer regime and a successful trade to the nation to be economically balanced. It is a need to balance all together for a reasonable cost of living for the consumer to live peacefully and conformably. Who are responsible for a proper consumer regime and a comfortable life of the citizen is the most important question to find a solution for the high cost of living ever increasing. Successive regimes are attempting to find solutions with no success and this is a continuous struggle the consumer as a group going through ever in any society, mostly in socies of open economy mostly as in socialist setups there are more safeguards for the consumer than in the open trade society.

World Consumer Day- 15^th March every year celebrated worldwide

 More than ever it is the consumer itself you are responsible and at the receiving end  who are responsible to be organized and to be aware of their regents and duties to receive the attention of the public , governance and the media as the group most neglected in the society as John Kennady declared in 1962 at the congress that the consumers are a grip that is most neglected and disorganized no knowing what their rights and powers are and initiated the world consumer day and organization’s by initiating the world consumer day which is today celebrated in over 300 countries every 15^th of march with great funfair and celebrations to flex muscles of the consumer and to organize themselves. Every year Consumer International selects a timely topic and organize seminars workshop’s and activism worldwide with educational, activism and promotional programs and Sri Lanka too is engaged in the celebrations headed by the regulator CAA and the government as well and we are informed the new Minister of trade is taking seps with the consumer Affairs Authority number of programs all over the country  by organizing seminars, workshops and activism to  organize consumer for a proper consumer regime so that the consumer will be protected which is  the citizen will be benefited in brining down the cost of living which is unbearable today.

Festive Season

Why is the cost of living rising during the festive season is natural due to the demand and shortages of the consumer items and the unreasonable behavior of the trader and the disorganization of the consumer who are impatient to purchase consumer goods expecting shortages during the season. Consumer tends to store items expecting shortages and the errant trader too are sharp to understand the behaviors of the consumer. The theme of the World Consumer Day on 2025 march 15 would be on the topic just transition to sustainable life style and previously dealt with digitalization, food, just market place and similar topics that will be chosen in future based on the then needs of the society. Why is cost of living is rising and especially during festive reason is a matter addressed by the consumer experts finding a solution in the interest of the citizen daily finding hard to make ends meet everyday and especially during festive season to perform their duties for the rest of the family and the society. But finding a solution is hard as it is every changing and challenging as it is linked to politics, economy and governance. Gene ally it is the Venance, the regulator, the trader, industrialists and more importantly the consumer itself who are responsible for the fluctuation sob the prizes of consumer items dis – proportionately. It is an open secret that old expired, old stocks air coming back to the open during the festive season for the innocent consumers purchase as new at may be higher prizes sometimes.

Legal Basis

Legal basis and the practice of the governance on the consumer and trader is of great importance on the increases of prices especially on festive season in a society when the price of consumer items is generally on the high side due to exonymic situation and the imbalance of the trade pattern, for which the legal basis play a main role. In Sri Lanka the main regulator is the Consumer Affairs Authority established under act no 9 of 2003, by establishing the CAA with a statutory body by replacing the English modelled system replacing the traditional English modelled acts to set up the statutory body with a mixture of English. Australian Canadian modelled system based on regulation in place of price control system and mechanism which appear to be unsuccessful as a teethless lion expecting the consumer organizations, media and the regulator to work together with the assistance of the regulator, trader, consumer, media and industrialists which has not been proved successful as expected by the act. Therefore, it has become necessary to bring drastic changes by introducing a new act forthwith possible following the Indian model that has follow some parts of the English model and traditional Indian modelled subsystem with the guidance of the Supreme Court and principles of public interest litigation and similar concepts. We are proposing a consumer ombudsman in the system and it is a good idea to rethinks of introducing principles of prize control we are used to.

Festive Seasons

Festive seasons will come and go during seasons and it is the duty of the consumer to be sharp and smart consumers without getting into the traps of errant traders, who technically are expected to be genuine and honest traders as in ‘’Seravanija Jathaka’’ where the genuine trader is always victorious, which unfortunately not the situation in Sri Lanka where the consumer is inundated with adulterated food and consumer items of lower quality with hard pressed CAA struggling with a limited staff and inadequate legal and procedural mechanism, which means that it is the duty of the regulator to be active all the time and consumer to be active smart and vigilant all the time with organized consumer movement.

Way out and forward-looking steps by parties concerned

Parties concerned are the Citizen, – Consumer- Regulator – Ministry of Trade Governance- Trader Consumer, Industrialists, Media, who should be aware of their duties to the nation as a matter of duty and it is paramount they must do a thorough study on their duties to the sociality all the time not only during festive season alone. It appears that the CAA is not as active as expected and in the forefront in the media limelight in organizing and directing the citizen and the parties concerned and it is the duty of the young and energetic Minister to be active and give special attention to this areas as a matter of priority, as this is an area the citizen has utmost hope and trust for consumer items of quality at the reasonable price and of required and expected quality. (Auther could be contacted on sarathdw28@gmail.com References – Hyde Park interview with Indeevari SL must have consumer Courts/ Lanka Web 12.12.24 consumer be vigilant. Telegraph jan 23 Consumer, Consumer Ombudsman 28.10 Ceylon today Price control 2003 Telegraph- any more on Lanka Web, Telegraph, Daily news Observer by the author)