Consumer Protection Authority to Recruit Volunteers for New On-Site Outreach Pilot
The Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority is launching a new initiative that will, for the first time, recruit volunteers to work in the field with businesses and consumers. The pilot will begin in the northern region, where volunteers trained by the authority will enter businesses, explain legal requirements to owners on issues such as price labeling, discrepancies between shelf and checkout prices, weighing practices, misleading customers and disclosure, and distribute prepared informational materials.
Kobi Zrihan, head of the Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority, told Globes that from the authority’s perspective this is a dramatic and unusual step in scope. “There is no one in the public who has not encountered a situation in which they wanted to exchange a product, contacted a warranty, or tried to resolve a consumer problem and did not get a response. We thought about how to expand the service we provide to consumers, and the idea of volunteers was born out of the understanding that they can be a significant force multiplier.”
According to him, the first stage is explanatory rather than enforcement-oriented. “The volunteer will enter the business and explain to the owner how things should look and be, make sure he understands, and give him accessible explanatory material. We are not looking for punishment and fines. In the end, we want to achieve regulation of the field.”
The authority plans to publish a public call and screen volunteers who will be selected to take part in the pilot. The training will take place at the authority’s offices and will cover the main aspects of consumer protection laws. Among other things, the volunteers are also expected to serve as an information channel from the field, hearing from business owners and consumers about recurring problems, identifying areas or sectors that require focus, and giving the authority a more up-to-date picture of what is actually happening.
At the same time, the Consumer Protection Authority plans in the next stage to appoint hourly-paid inspectors who will carry out targeted field checks on relatively simple issues, such as price display and price labeling. Zrihan stresses that the intention is to increase presence and assertiveness without placing an excessive burden on small businesses. “On the one hand, we will demonstrate presence and assertiveness, and on the other hand, we will not break small businesses with millions in fines,” he says.
Consumer education will also be expanded. Alongside work with physical businesses, the authority also plans to expand educational outreach to consumers themselves, including in disadvantaged populations, nursing homes, community centers and workers’ committees. The authority explains that in recent years a significant share of harm to consumers no longer occurs only at the checkout or next to an unlabeled shelf, but also in the worlds of services and online commerce, transactions carried out through websites and social networks, marketing promises that are not kept, partial information about transaction terms, difficulties canceling services, and charges that consumers struggle to understand or stop.
According to Zrihan, the goal is to teach consumers to identify problematic situations in advance and better understand their rights. “Fraud belongs more to the criminal sphere. We deal with deception, and it is important for us to create a culture among businesses of full and proper disclosure to consumers,” he says.
The move comes against the backdrop of the government’s decision to advance the merger of the Consumers Council into the Consumer Protection Authority. According to Zrihan, the authority is expected to take on the tasks, responsibilities and a significant portion of the Consumers Council’s staff. He said the Consumers Council currently has about 25 employees and an annual budget of about 4 million to 5 million shekels, while under the plan the budget will increase to 7.2 million shekels a year.
“I am happy that the Minister of Economy and the ministry director general made great efforts to advance this issue,” Zrihan says. “There were many obstacles along the way, many parties involved, government ministries and workers’ committees. After a great effort, we managed to narrow the gaps and create a comprehensive view that led to the government decision.”
