Standards Authority to organize workshop on International Standardization

Ghana will on March15 join the world to celebrate the World Consumer Rights Day with a workshop that aims at encouraging effective consumer participation in international standardization.

A statement issued by the Ghana Standards Authority and signed by Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, Head of the Public Relations Department, said the National workshop will bring together consumer organizations and other stakeholders interested in consumer issues and standardization in Ghana.

It seeks to increase participants’ understanding of what standards are and the importance of standards in the lives of consumers.

It said the day would provide an opportunity for promoting the basic rights of all consumers and request for those rights to be respected and protected.

This year’s celebration is on the theme: “Our Money, Our Rights: Campaigning for Real Choice in Financial Services.”

The statement said this year’s theme sheds light on how consumers around the world are getting “raw deal” from financial services citing examples of how consumers often have trouble understanding different financial products whether due to lack of information or because the products themselves are too complex.

The statement said standards could help address such issues and notes that consumer participation in the standards development process will ensure that such concerns are taken care of in the requirement indicated in the relevant standards.