The government’s feasibility study on a possible lemon law will reportedly consider several loopholes under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (Act 599) to patch them up, according to Bernama. This is to ensure it can effectively resolve cases of repeated issues with newly-purchased products, such as vehicles.
Such a study would review the definition of the consumer under the Act, which currently involves only domestic use and not commercial users, said deputy minister of the domestic trade and cost of living ministry (KPDN) Fuziah Salleh. This would bring regulations in line with what Proton wants – its deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah said carmakers should also be protected as they rely on parts from vendors, which may be defective too.
“We also will look at the lack of a governing body to look at consumer complaints and if we create regulations, we want them to be able to plug all those loopholes. Otherwise, we will consider having new laws,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. This was in response to a speech by Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan about the need for a lemon law to protect consumers, especially vehicle buyers.
This comes after KPDN minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali confirmed a feasibility study will be carried out this year, which will consider lemon laws and best practices of several other countries. This was amid recent complaints regarding issues with newly-bought cars – most notably the viral incident surrounding a Perodua Bezza.
In essence, a lemon law would allow customers of defective vehicles (or “lemons”) to seek compensation, either in the form of a replacement, a reduction of price or refund, or compensatory payment.
“In Malaysia, legal provision based on Lemon Law relate to the compensation rights of consumers against suppliers or manufacturers if the product fails to comply with the guarantee set under Act 599,” Fuziah said.
She added that over the past five years, KPDN’s consumer movement division received 261 complaints regarding vehicle quality problems involving newly-purchased new and used vehicles. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Consumer Claims Tribunal received 502 cases involving new vehicles and 1,335 involving used vehicles, of which 493 and 1,120 have been resolved respectively.
The post Lemon law study on effectiveness to explore loopholes in Consumer Protection Act 1999 appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
0 Comments