~ As MPs hear from Chamber of Commerce ~
PHILIPSBURG--The urgent need to protect shoppers, both visitors to the country and residents, from unscrupulous businesspeople was underscored during the Central Committee hearing with representatives of the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.
Malpractices mentioned included palming off imitation merchandise as original products, refusing to honour manufacturers' guarantees or extend one of their own, and selling refurbished items as new.
While the hearing was geared to discussing the pending changes to the Civil Code to bring a Consumer Protection Act into effect, the dialogue between Members of Parliament (MPs) and the chamber reps also zoomed in on the current state of affairs affecting consumers.
Chamber President Glen Carty said in his presentation that his organisation represented the "good corporate citizens" and called on government to do its part to regulate businesses operating without licences and/or paying taxes.
As for the draft law, Carty said care must be taken to ensure a balance so that the law, when enforced, could not be abused by the buyer or the seller. Products on the shelves must be up to par and good after-sale service is also essential.
Better business
Carty also raised the need for a "better business bureau" as an extension of the law that stemmed from a consumer protection act worked on by the chamber and the Small Business Development Foundation (SBDF) dating back to 2006. That bureau would put the onus on the government and chamber to set business operations and sales standards, and would guide consumers to recommended businesses via stickers on the store doors.
Carty said it was better to have a local bureau do the rating than have the cruise lines recommend and rate stores and other businesses, a rating driven by marketing fees.
National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin said the issue was much more serious than the Chamber "putting stickers on the doors of businesses."
The cruise ship passengers coming to the country have changed drastically over the years, from the higher end to more budget tourists who don't know the difference between St. Maarten and St. Lucia. Their knowledge about the island is formed based on information from cruise directors who market businesses that advertise aboard ship.
"The cruise ships have no benefit in telling the truth. The cruise lines have financial gains on who pays to advertise on board," he said.
Responding to Marlin, Carty said tackling the cruise ship marketing strategy was "an uphill battle" and when it came to dealing with businesses in the country, government needed to tackle infractions together with the Chamber.
Carty added that there is some reluctance from politicians because the businesses were "the ones who fund your campaigns. As politicians, it is difficult, because the same people you have to take action against are the same people you have to get campaign funds from."
Consumer protection on a wide scale was born with the influx of cruise ship passengers in the past 20-plus years, Chamber Board member Ludwig Ouenniche said. The death of many small businesses in and around Philipsburg came about because they were boycotted by cruise ship passengers as non-recommended stores.
The cruise ship recommendations "created the perception" for visitors that they were not protected if they shopped in non-recommended ones, said Ouenniche, who has been a major thrust behind the need for consumer protection over the years.
Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Franklin Meyers already has showed his support for consumer protection by giving his ministry instructions to have the consumer protection act (not the law) in place in January.
Ouenniche said the consumer protection act and law would "put fear" in businesses that "action would be taken immediately" if they delivered substandard service or merchandise. It also will cut down on the red tape for the consumer whose only recourse is going to court over bad merchandise.
Member actions
Democratic Party (DP) MP Leroy de Weever pointed to a decline in business in Philipsburg if stores continued to sell counterfeit merchandise as the real thing to visitors. "It's your members who are selling fake products. Your membership is tricking the consumers. The Chamber has to have a big stick [to deal with the situation]."
MP Frans Richardson (independent) also spoke about the damage "fake" merchandise passed off as real caused to the economy and image of the country. He said draft legislation was pending to deal with this phenomenon of counterfeit merchandise flooding the market. The draft dates to the days of the dissolved Netherlands Antilles Parliament and should be picked up by MPs next year.
MP Patrick Illidge (independent) highlighted government-owned utilities company GEBE as a business from which consumers needed protection, because often GEBE refused to take responsibility for appliances damaged by GEBE's power fluctuations.
He also said businesses on Back Street constituted the "backbone" of the local economy, because people came to shop for merchandise to take to other islands to sell. When these products are substandard and cannot be returned, it tarnishes St. Maarten's reputation as a shopping mecca.
MPs Johan "Janchi" Leonard and Silvia Meyers-Olivacce (United People's (UP) party), and Dr. Lloyd Richardson (NA) voiced concern about the lack of protection for consumers and the fact that people needed protection from businesses that were essentially members of the Chamber.
No guarantees
MP George Pantophlet (NA) queried about the number of businesses operating without permits. Carty replied that for some time now the Chamber had not been receiving copies of licences issued by government. This has created a gap in the Chamber's records.
Pantophlet also asked why guarantees were not being honoured by businesses. To this, Ouenniche said that based on international regulations, whatever guarantee was given to the distributor by the manufacturer must be passed on to the buyer. However, there are stores in St. Maarten that "use a red stamp" to void any guarantee from the manufacturer and do not back the product with guarantees of their own or even after-sale service.
Chamber Executive Director Claret Conner said the association's quest was not only to represent businesses in a professional manner, but to protect them. "Before we go over to bashing businesses, Parliament needs to address laws to protect businesses. Without business, we can't live." He added that to enforce regulations the chamber "would need support from higher up," pointing to government.
The consumer protection law and other pending changes to the Civil Code are available for review on Parliament's Website
www.sxmparliament.org . A report of the hearing will be compiled and the process to pass the law will move on to the Central Committee in the coming months.
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