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Consumer Protection Law in Ethiopia: The Normative Regime and the Way Forward

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Abstract

The 1960 Civil Code of Ethiopia and other laws have been providing a certain level of protection to consumers until the enactment of laws – in 2010 and 2014 – that expressly deal with consumer protection. This article examines consumer protection in Ethiopia with prime attention to the Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Proclamation No. 813/2013 (enacted in 2014). The social context which prompted the enactment of specific consumer laws in Ethiopia, sources that have influenced Ethiopia’s consumer law regime, rights of consumers, obligations of business persons, regulatory enforcement schemes and some features of consumer protection in digitalized services are highlighted. Moreover, the article briefly deals with the way forward regarding consumer enablement as a path to the effective implementation of consumer rights to choice, safety, information and redress. It is argued that the articulation of specific consumer laws can hardly be implemented unless consumers are adequately empowered to secure their rights and entitlements through effective redress which should include public interest litigation, class action and enhanced civil society engagement.

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Notes

  1. Fetha Nagast (1968), Section V, Paragraph 2. See, for example, the explanation of the translators to English in Footnote 67, p. 190.

  2. Unfair Trade Practices Decree No 50/1963.

  3. Unfair Trade Practices Proclamation No. 228/1965

  4. Trade Practice and Consumers Protection Proclamation No. 685/2010.

  5. Trade Competition and Consumers Protection Proclamation No. 813/2013 (Hereinafter TCCP Proclamation).

  6. See for example, laws such as the Ethiopian Standards Agency Establishment Council of Ministers Regulation No. 193/2010 and other laws indicated in Section 4.

  7. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

  8. Silber citing: Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery, 53 (1914). [Footnote 1: “Candling involves using light to help determine the quality of an egg. By the turn of the century it had become not merely time consuming and economically inefficient, but also unfeasible for consumers in urban grocery stores to candle eggs”).

  9. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9108&st=Protecting+the+Consumer+Interest&st1= (Accessed 10 February 2017).

  10. John F. Kennedy, Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest. March 15, 1962. Available at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9108&st=Protecting+the+Consumer+Interest&st1= (Accessed 3 March 2017).

  11. The word “Proclamation” is used for laws enacted by the parliament analogous to words such as “Act” in various countries.

  12. See for example http://www.cuts-international.org/7up3/7Up3-enewsVIa.htm .

  13. Capacity Building on Competition Policy in Select Countries of Eastern and Southern Africa (7Up3 Project) Country Advocacy Plan (Stage-II), October 2006. Available at: http://www.cuts-ccier.org/7Up3/pdf/CountryAdvocacyPlan7Up3-Stage-II.pdf>.

  14. Id., pp. 6 and 7.

  15. Article 169 of the 2007 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) – which was formerly Art. 153(1) of the 1999 Treaty of European Community (TEC), and 129 (a) of the 1992 TEC.

  16. Upon request by a consumer, the business person is also required to satisfactorily disclose oneself and provide all information sought by the consumer.

  17. Interview with Mr. Ermias Tesfaye Ayele (Expert, Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Authority), 06 April 2017.

  18. Ibid.

  19. See for example, Coffee Quality Control and Marketing Proclamation No. 602/2008, and other proclamations, regulations, and directives.

  20. TCCP Proclamation, supra note  5, Art. 23(2).

  21. Available at http://www.iso.org/sites/cascoregulators/documents/Conformity%20assessment%20techniques%20-%20Inspection.pdf (Accessed 8 July 2017).

  22. 06 March 2017.

  23. 08 March 2017.

  24. See for example Yukyung Yeo (2009). Between Owner and Regulator: Governing the Business of China’s Telecommunications Service Industry. The China Quarterly, 200, 1013–1032.

  25. See Elias N. Stebek (2017). Deliverables and Pledges under Ethiopian Trade Competition Law, Mizan Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 1. pp. 32–63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/mlr.v11i1.2

  26. Interview, March 25, 2017. The interviewee’s anonymity is respected.

  27. See for example the 1965 Civil Procedure Code of Ethiopia with regard to the requirement of vested interest to be qualified for filing a suit (Art. 33/2), and the requirement of agreement to be represented in a suit (Art. 38).

  28. Article 2(1)(d) of the Cooperative Societies Proclamation No. 147/1998.

  29. Neighbourhood, the smallest administrative unit.

  30. Feedback and discussion at Sheger FM Radio morning programme, July 26, 2017.

  31. See, for example, Stebek (2017), supra note 25.

Abbreviations

TCCPP:

Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Proclamation

TCCPA:

Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Authority

References

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  • Commercial Code of Ethiopia, 1960.

  • Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016.

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  • Cooperative Societies Proclamation No. 147/1998.

  • Cooperative Societies Proclamation No. 985/2016.

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  • Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise Establishment Council of Ministers Regulation No. 196/2010.

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  • Penal Code, 1957.

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  • Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Proclamation No. 813/2014.

  • Trade Practice and Consumers Protection Proclamation No. 685/2010.

  • Trade Practice Proclamation No. 329/2003.

  • Trade Practices Decree No 50/1963.

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  1. Mizan Law Review, Centre for Law in Sustainable Development, St. Mary’s University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    E. N. Stebek

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Stebek, E.N. Consumer Protection Law in Ethiopia: The Normative Regime and the Way Forward. J Consum Policy 41, 309–332 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-018-9389-9

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