Cypriot consumer should be protected

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and the Competition and Consumer Protection Service in particular are promoting a series of actions and measures aimed at providing information, raising awareness and at the same time protecting citizens regarding consumer issues.
These actions and measures were announced by Minister Antonis Paschalides at a press conference held in Nicosia on the occasion of the World Consumer day.
Paschalides said that the objective of these measures is to ensure that consumers can do their shopping in a reliable way, both in Cyprus and in any EU country.
The Ministry, he added, aiming at implementing its basic goals for effective protection of health, safety and economic interests of the consumers, was promoting the modernization of the relative legislation and the completion of the harmonization with the corresponding new aqui communitaire.
He also said that a great importance is given to the practical implementation of the harmonized laws, noting that for this purpose the strengthening of administrative structures is being promoted and the functioning of the implementation mechanisms is being enhanced with a particular emphasis on inspection and monitoring system of the market.
Pashalides said that the service regarding the toll free consumer telephone line 1429 has been enhanced and is available for the public in the afternoons as well.
According to the figures announced at the press conference, consumers made 1,446 phone calls in 2007 to either submit a complaint or require information while this number increased to 4,346 in 2008.
As it was mentioned, the first two months of the current year are also encouraging since the number of calls has reached around 1,200.
These figures show that Cypriot citizens are more and more interested to be informed about their rights on consumer issues, it was underlined at the conference.