Substandard products sale has culminated under the jurisdiction of PSQCA
This was stated by the Chairman of Consumers Association of Pakistan Kukab Iqbal in a task Force organized by Provincial Minister for Commerce & Industry on the subject "Consumers Protection". He said that Contrary to the function of the Pakistan Standards of Quality Control Authority, (PSQCA), the government department for controlling the quality of products, there are several products in the market that are substandard or are rip-offs of the original.

According to the theories of the free market economy, it is the consumer demand that determines what the supply and price should be. Consumers are considered sovereign in this regard and rarely has there been an instance when a consumer has lost a case filed against a manufacturer for substandard products or low quality. "More than 60 per cent of the goods that are sold in the market do not follow benchmarks of the quality control that are at par with international standards," said Kaukab Iqbal, Chairman of Consumer Association of Pakistan (CAP).

"The public is does not know that products need approval from the government. They have no idea what the standard of quality for any product should be," he said. Iqbal gave the example of the mineral water found in retail outlets and said that almost 20 per cent of the brands are unregistered but they are still being sold openly. This is an alarmingly high figure especially if puts human health at stake. "It would be better of this department was closed down" he said. "Not only is it indifferent to the standard of living of the people, it is also reckless," he added. According to the law, the products sold in the market need to have a PSQCA stamp to show that they have been approved by the body. However, even then, there are several brands of water that are being sold without this stamp.

Unfortunately, the public does not know about this. Thus, the consumers do not think twice before buying water and nor do they look for this stamp. According to the PSQCA statistics, there are 107 registered companies of water and a total of 163 brands of water that are registered. Water is not the only item that is sold without registration. There are several shops which sell cheap knock-offs of cold drinks. A cursory look is enough to know that these drinks are anything but the real thing. They are usually sold in the less developed areas of the city such as Shershah, Mauripur and other smaller colonies. Moreover, large-sized biscuit packs are sold with the complete manufacturing and expiry dates on them. However, the smaller sizes available by the same companies do not carry these dates. This ignorance on the part of consumers can prove to be dangerous. A survey that included the shopkeepers as well as the masses shows that even retailers have little or no idea of the function of this government body.

Zaheer Baloch, who owns a small general store near Pak Colony, said that he sells a number of items out of which some are only copies. A biscuit packet lying on his cash counter, for instance, is a knock-off of a well-known Pakistani brand. The manufacturers have only copied the wrapper. On it, there is no PSQCA authority stamp which reveals that it has not been directly approved by the government to be sold in the market. "People come to my shop and buy what they like. They are not bothered by what the contents really are, or whether they can fall sick because of consuming such an item," he added.Similar is the case in some of the other retail shops which cater to mostly underprivileged areas, where the people are less educated or concerned about health and safety.

Amjad Nazeer, a resident of Baldia Town, said that "It really is no use if the water being sold is not the same as what Nestle sells, for instance. To us, if the water looks clean, then it is good enough, because what we get through the taps is much worse anyway." Perhaps the lack of standardised government provisions is the reason behind the public's indifference. They would prefer anything that is a shade better than what they usually get. The Deputy Director Consumer Affairs, PSQCA, Abdul Waheed Memon said that the main cause of the violation of consumer rights is not because of the absence of a Consumer Protection Ordinance, which had continuously lapsed time and time again.

"There are many political influences that act as a hurdle for this to Ordinance to be enacted," said Memon. "However, we try our best to make sure that the standards of the products are maintained." Moreover, he added that the PSQCA does issue notices from time to time and every three months, they visited factories, while they also had open market samplings where they tested products. "We have a regulatory authority which visits factories, unfortunately, however, the role of consumer bodies is poor, and they usually make excuses for their absence," he explained.