Belize Bureau of Standards Hosts Consumer Rights Open Day

Today, the Belize Bureau of Standards hosted a Consumer Rights Open Day at the Civic Center in Belmopan. The event aimed to educate the public on the eight internationally recognized consumer rights and highlight the Bureau’s role in protecting those rights. As the national standards body, the Bureau is responsible for developing and enforcing standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of goods and services, while also regulating weights and measures in line with international benchmarks. Love News Belmopan Correspondent Ljay Wade spoke with Director Samantha Banner, who shared more details on the Bureau’s efforts to empower and protect consumers.

Samantha Banner, Director, Belize Bureau of Standards: “Today we’re hosting a Consumer Rights Information Day and this is basically in commemoration of World Consumer Rights Day. It was internationally celebrated on March 15th, however we were unable to host it then, but we still thought it was a necessary initiative to organize and so what we did was bring together several agencies that have some responsibility for consumer protection and they are here to inform consumers of their rights in various aspects from prices to food safety,  the environment, even utilities and finances, weights and measures as well and standards. And so they provide the consumers with the relevant information so that when they’re in their marketplace they can they know exactly what their rights are and they can act as responsible informed consumers. So there are eight universal consumer rights and those are your right to basic needs and I think that says it all. You have a right to choose so you can choose whatever products you want. You have a right to be informed, that comes with having all the relevant information so that you can make a decision on what product you wish to choose. You have a right to safety, meaning that the products you consume should not be detrimental to your health in any way. You have a right to be heard because we know all things being equal everything doesn’t always work out. Sometimes there are issues that we encounter and there is a need to express yourself so you go back to the business establishment, you explain what your situation is, and you have a right to do so. And then you have a right to redress. You also have a right to consumer education, and that’s what we aim to do,  to promote our consumer rights, to bring together all the agencies so that consumers can be well informed and educated and then you have a right to a healthy environment. So we live, work, grow, play, socialize in an environment that is conducive to  our health and well-being.”

Several high schools and Primary school students were in attendance at the Open day.