As Caribbean consumers, how protected are we in this digital age?

Consumer rights and protection have become even more complex thanks to increased online and cross-border transactions. However, in the Caribbean, how protected are we, as we increasingly engage in online shopping?

Let’s face it. If we had the means, many of us would spend even more time (and money!) shopping than we currently do. In the Caribbean, the consumer experience can be somewhat hit or miss. The right and privileges that consumers in more developed countries might take for granted, such as with respect to the return of goods, refunds, warranties, advertised prices versus listed prices, to name are few, are not always as clear in the Caribbean, nor are they strictly enforced.

It should thus not be a surprise that the consumer protection challenges experienced in the region can be compounded online. Typically, you, as the consumer, do not have physical access to the seller, but need to pay upfront in order to receive the products or services you have ordered. It therefore means that you are exposed, and are at the mercy of a seller, with very few, if any, avenues for redress.

Consumer protection getting attention at the regional level

The topic, Protecting Consumers in the Digital Era, was the subject of spirited discussions at the Barbados Fair Trading Commission’s annual lecture series held last week in Barbados. At the event, Deputy Programme Manager, CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Mr. Philip McClauren, was quick to highlight that with so many CARICOM consumers purchasing products on-line, a crucial challenge is to determine which country’s laws should be used to protect the buyer. He also outlined the work being done at the regional level to protect the consumer, which included the creation of model bills for distance selling and consumer protection (St Kitts & Nevis Observer).

A regional approach but fragmented implementation

In light of the commonalities that exist between Caribbean countries, and to benefit from economies of scale, a frequently adopted approach in the region, is the preparation of model legislation that countries can tweak, but which ideally should remain similar, and thus reflect (appreciably) harmonised policies. However, more often than not, and after all the work and collaboration it takes to prepare these model documents, the implementation effort gets stalled in-country, and the status quo remains.

Hence it is likely that the model bills CARICOM has prepared to strengthen consumer protection frameworks across the region, may in fact not get enacted, or otherwise adopted, as occurred with the outputs of the HIPCAR project a few years ago. The Harmonization of ICT Policies and Legislation Across the Caribbean (HIPCAR) was a five-year project organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and CARICOM, to help Caribbean countries improve their competitiveness by harmonising their approaches to ICT development (Source:  ITU). Two sets of guidelines and nine pieces of legislation were prepared under the project, with the expectation that the 15 participating Caribbean countries involved in their preparation would move assiduously to adopt them. However, as noted in a 2017 Internet Society report, “since the project ended, few of the countries have formally adopted the policy guidelines or promulgated the draft legislation that was prepared”. History is likely to repeat itself.

The bigger picture in transitioning to a digital society

It some degree, it can be successfully argued that the state of our consumer protection frameworks is a litmus of the ICT readiness of individual Caribbean countries, and the Caribbean region as a whole, within the context of becoming digital societies. Many countries across the region are focussing, almost exclusively, on access to and the availability of technology, and so give little or no attention to the other elements, such as consumer protection digital signatures, privacy and data protection, which although might appear tangential, are crucial in strengthening the enabling environment.

While countries might rebut by saying that work is ongoing on many of the supporting policies, the fact is that unless they are implemented, they have no effect. Further, there does not appear to be a sense of urgency to implement those policies, and so Caribbean countries, and the region, remain unduly hindered, although we say we want to better harness technology to drive our economies and continued development.

Image credit:  Elaine Smith (flickr)