Action of ministry of economy on WCRD

On the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) celebrated each year on the 15 of March, the minister of economy and trade, Raed Khoury, said the theme of this year is protecting consumers in a trusted digital world. Khoury was speaking during a conference ‘consumer protection via internet’ organized by his ministry at the Grand Serail. The Minister further  underlined the role of the ministry with strategic stakeholders in the public and private sectors to the end of protecting e-commerce customers where they largely face scams. On the occasion, Khoury launched the ministry’s plan of action to this effect which is based on 3 main axes: first, the legislative, through development and endorsement of laws regulating electronic transactions and serving as a legal umbrella; second, the educational, guidance aspect, which builds the consumer’s awareness of his/her rights and duties, and finally, the monitoring axis, aimed to ensure by best the safety of goods and services offered via the internet and maintain their conformity with international specifications. Khoury concluded by disclosing that his ministry is currently liaising with a team of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Team (UNCTAD) to enhance the ministry’s monitoring capacities in the domain of e-commerce. For her part, the director general of the ministry of economy, Aliya Abbas, stressed that consumer protection is essentially associated with the safety and health of all the Lebanese people, and as such, increasing the budget to this end becomes an urgency, as it secures the procurement of necessary equipment needed to activate surveillance and train, as well as, increase the size of our human cadres.” (Al Mustaqbal, March 15, 2017)