Consumer Protection by the Government

Running head: CONTRACT LAW
CONTRACT LAW
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CONTRACT LAW
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1) Consumer protection by the government ensures that everyone has the right to access safe
and good goods and good quality services and right to be treated in a fair manner (Howells and
Weatherill 2017) Further the government must give effective solutions in case anything goes
wrong. Since it is difficult for the individual consumer to voice against any discrepancies, it
comes under the duty of the government to ensure that. In this article, the main principle of
consumer protection given by the government is being discussed together with the arguments to
justify it.
One of the primary problems in the benefit of consumers is the extent up to which the
government should interfere in the consumer protection. The government intervention in the
consumer protection is necessary where the consumers do not have the amount of information
needed to protect them. Government interference is also needed where consumer welfare is not
properly regarded in the oligopolistic markets (Mathis and Tor 2016). It is also mandatory where
a certain level of quality assurance is needed if the markets have to function or where products
imposing risk are needed to be removed from the market to ensure the safety of public money.
Consumer protection is nothing but a public good which will be not be present in optimum
quantity without any intervention from the government (de Meijer 2016).
Consumer protection is required as it protects the consumers by achieving sufficient
protection for all the consumers, ensuring that service or products response to consumer needs,
encouraging high standard of ethical business conduct, prohibiting abusive practice in business,
promoting sustainability in consumption and furthering cooperation internationally in consumer
protection (Howells and Wilhelmsson 2017). The primary reason of consumer protection by the
government is developing, maintaining or strengthening the policy governing it.

CONTRACT LAW
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The advantages of the interference of the government for providing the consumer
protection are as follows:
 Providing important insight to consumer needs: It helps to understand the main
principle which forms the basis of consumer protection and how to deliver it;
 Defining the government’s roles and their liabilities: to understand the different roles
and the liabilities of the government for providing the consumer protection;
 Valuable time saving: It gives excellent criterion to develop the consumer protection
policy.
 Boost trade: it further infuses confidence and promotes the growth nationally and in
global markets by using the principles laid down in the international agreement and
standard.
 Ensure consisting approach: since the global markets are significantly inert connected,
it is significant to have harmonized solutions for solving the common problems.
Consumers are offered protection from various sources like legislation, industry code of
practice, enforcement agencies, standards and consumer categories. That the government
should be having a major role to play in consumer protection is a recently booming idea.
This trend, as per Kerwin, C.M. and Furlong, S.R towards the greater governmental
intervention in between the seller and buyer is not due to the visionary political idealism.
On the contrary, as held by De Gregori, T.R., it is one of the fundamental reasons in the
economic marketplace. The role of government must be ensuring perfect balance between
the seller and the buyer in the marketplace. The goal of the government for consumer
protection is not regulating the businessman but ensuring that he alone reaps the expected
benefits out of his business.