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Foundation
for consumers
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The Coordinating Committee for Primary Health Care of
Thai NGOs or CCPN, a non governmental and non profit organization,
was founded in 1983 and which coordinate health groups in
the country .CCPN has since then campaigning on and for
better health care policies and has been instrumental in
several successful health policy advocacy. |
Such policy advocacy and campaign in Thailand done are derailing
and blocking of amendments to patent law on pharmaceutical,
anti-smoking campaign; generic names on labeling and advertising
of pharmaceuticals; banning of caffeine in analgesic drugs;
rights of people with HIV/AIDS; regulation on dirty dozen chemicals,
etc. but very few changes in the consumer behaviors have resulted.
The constraints and very limited number of NGOs working directly
on consumer issues had led CCPN to outstandingly take the initiative
to start incorporating consumer protection into all its campaigns
in 1990.
And in 1994, CCPN set up the Foundation
for Consumers or FFC which is also a non- governmental
and non-profit organization to work directly with consumers
and consumer protection policy advocacy. And now FFC is
the main leading consumer organization in Thailand.
Objectives:
1. To coordinate consumers and consumer organizations;
2. To promote, empower and strengthen consumers and consumer
organizations to participate in consumer protection;
3. To research and study on consumer issues for policy
advocacy; and
4. To coordinate and collaborate with national and international
organizations for consumer protection |
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Activities and successes:
1. Strenghening consumers and consumer organizations project
It has increased the number and quality of consumer organizations
to work in the fields and continue their works on consumer protection.
"Show Your Bad Products and Services",
the first Consumer Assembly, which introduced consumers to do
social action through bringing their own substandard/below standard
products or bad experiences in services, this in exchange for
a pack of healthy brown rice. More than 600 consumers voluntarily
joined this two-day event.
Set up a consumer network. to work very closely and actively
on campaigning for the establishment of the "Independenct
Agency for Consumer Protection", which is a mandate from
the Constitution - Article 57.
Confederation for Consumer Organization, Thailand (CCOT), a
non-governmental and non-profit organization established to
network 17 consumer organizations and groups around the country
which comprises of NGOs and POs working on issues on health,
women, farmer, labour and civil society groups.
| 2. Consumer magazine "Smart Buyer
Magazine" Smart Buyer magazine that was first
published in June, 1994, is a bi-monthly magazine that is
the leading alterrnative consumer magazine in the country
that tackles consumer's rights, consumer protection, misleading
products and product testing, ways of life for consumers,
to name a few. The magazine has become widely read and has
involved in the mainstream media. |
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The mainstream media is adapting and disseminating information
taken from the magazine for consumer protection and many
newspapers and magazines has opened specific consumer columns
in theirs. It has been in the market for 8 years now and
Smart Buyer Magazine has been self-reliant and self-sufficient, |
finance-wise with its own membership fees collected and without
advertisement. There are more than 12,000 subscribers at present.
3. Complaints and Legal Assistance Center
The center was established in 1994 together with the Smart
Buyer Magazine as a parallel work for consumer protection.
It runs with uncertainty on still bad consumer behavior,
with belief that "do nothing when nothing happens".
Started with the slogan "Complaint for one time is
better than complain for one thousand times", |
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that made our center prove that consumers would like to use
their own rights but facing with bureaucratic system that delay
in helping consumers and has big impact and problems for consumers
to use their rights.
The center, not only working with one individual consumer
but also tries very hard to work at the policy level and protection
scheme, such as improvement of legal system in rapidly solving
consumer problems and decrease burden of proof. The interesting
complaint cases are disseminated in Smart Buyer Magazine and
to the mass media.
4. Weekly and live television programme called "Assembly
of Consumers"
This is a one-hour programme, aired every Friday and which has
started since
May 19, 2000. The tv programme has been very successful in educating
and disseminating consumer facts and important information that
can help consumer to make decision on various issues that have
never been presented by other agencies especially the business
sector.
Interested issues that have been presented in the tv
programme are:
- How reliable advertisement on products on decreasing weight
are?
- Do supplementary food, especially chicken soup tell you the
truth about its product?
- Very hard to avoid direct selling and marketing
- Should energy drinks increased its caffeine level?
- UBC: Monopoly of cable tv in Thailand
5. Specific Consumer policy campaign:
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The Independent Agency for Consumer Protection,
which is mandated in the Article 57 of the Constitution
law of Thailand has provided the first consumer protection
for the country. In the past and until now, often all consumer
protection measures, regulations, laws, affecting consumer
protection, |
are in different government agencies. But with this Independent
Agency there will be a need to consult them with the Agency
first before to enforce or use any measures following the constitution.
FFC together with CCOT have been campaigning and drafting the
model law following the Article 57.
Campaign to meet universal coverage of health care for the whole
country,
30 % of the Thai people do not have health insurance or any
social safety net. The people need very badly to have health
insurance as a basic need of every person and as a consumer
right.
6. Special Acivities
Anti-corruption Network, which comprises of 30 related NGOs.
It was set up after Thailand was on crisis from government
misconduct in 1998. The Ministry of Public Health got involved
in a Drug Scandal worth 1,400 Million Bahts. Rural Doctors
Society and Rural Pharmacist Association which had the first
hand contacts with people involved, released the information. |
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NGOs supported the anti-corruption movement and it was the
first time in the country to use constitution against erring
government officials through collection of 50,000 signatures
to petition and condemn the two Public Health Ministers and
Secretary General of Public Health Ministry and the ministers
were resigned and the secretary general was moved permanently
to Government House Department.
Access to pharmaceutical campaign - in the past two decades
Thai consumers has faced with over consumption of medicine.
Thailand had to amend the country's Patent law following the
WTO's TRIPs (Trade Related Aspects on Intellectual Property
Rights) Agreements and US pressuring the country for amendments
and threatening trade sanctions. It has been very hard for Thailand
to enforce and use compulsory licensing to access affordable
medicines. People living with HIV and AIDs cannot access medicine
(their life-saving drugs) because of its high price and monopoly.
Contact address:
211/2 Soi Ngamwongwan 31, Ngamwongwan Rd., Nonthaburi 11000
Tel :
662-952-5060-2 Fax : 662
- 580 - 9337 E- mail : smbuyer@consumerthai.org
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