By Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterTHE CONSUMER Protection Act was passed yesterday in Parliament, despite terse claims from the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that the Bill is 'nonsensical' and represents 'bad legislation'.
Karl Samuda, Opposition spokesman on Industry, argued that the Bill represented anti-trade legislation and that the Government had brought it to the House as an emotional response to what was perceived to be price gouging.
"It is sheer nonsense and political grandstanding," Mr. Samuda told members of the House of Representatives. He argued that the Bill, which seeks to amalgamate aspects of current law and give the Consumer Affairs Com-mission (CAC) the powers necessary to promote and protect consumer interests, is draconian and repetitive of legislation already on the books.
Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, started the debate in the House last week Tuesday, but gave way for an address by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
Yesterday, the Opposition spokesman argued that the Bill gives Government too much leeway to interfere in private transactions between traders and consumers and that it should be sent back to a joint select committee where members of the trade sector and other relevant bodies could interact on developing better legislation.
He also took the opportunity to challenge Minister Paulwell's recent warning that the Government could return to price control in an effort to control price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.
"Instead of making idle threats which he cannot carry out and has had to backtrack, he should simply take the names of those persons who are abusing the system and make them public so that they may be embarrassed by their actions," Mr. Samuda said.
However, after much deliberation, the Bill was unanimously passed without amendment.
Minister Paulwell, in closing the debate, said: "This didn't start yesterday. This is a Bill that has gone through tremendous consideration."
