Consumer Protection in ASEAN Member States: The Comparative Study of Product Liability Laws and Product Safety Laws in ASEAN

Abstract

Product liability laws and product safety laws of ASEAN Member States have various degrees of consumer protection. Some ASEAN Member States have specific product liability laws aiming to redress injured parties from unsafe or defective products. However, some ASEAN Member States do not have specific product liability laws so consumer protection laws, sale of goods related legislations, tort laws and other specific safety laws according to different types of products are applied instead. Product safety laws generally have a main objective to prevent defective products being launched to markets. Product safety laws can be divided into to two categories, namely specific and general product safety laws. In ASEAN, Singapore and Malaysia are the countries that have general product safety laws providing high protection to consumers. International safety standards from international organizations are applied under the Singapore general product safety regulation: Consumer Protection (Consumer Goods Safety Requirements) Regulations 2011. This helps enhancing the degree of consumer protection in Singapore because these international standards providing clear and certain degree of safety standards. While Malaysian Consumer Protection Act 1999 indicates that consumer goods must have a reasonable standard of safety according to natures of the consumer goods. Unlike Singapore, international safety standards are not applied under this Malaysian Consumer Protection Act 1999. Enhancing consumer protection is another social goal of ASEAN Community by ensuring that products available for sale in the ASEAN single market are safe to consume. To fulfill this social goal, ASEAN Member States should develop and reform domestic relevant legislations both through preventive measures not to allow defective products being launched to markets and through comprehensive redress mechanism for injured parties, who suffer damages from defective products. Filing consumer-related cases to courts should be made simple and uncomplicated with low burden of proof for consumers in order to encourage them to seek for the redress. Consumers should also be educated and advocated to be more aware of their consumer rights. Safety culture should be built among businesses.