Committee of Supply 2024 debate, Day 3: Melvin Yong on enhancing consumer protection
In Parliament on Friday (Mar 1), MP Melvin Yong highlighted the issue of “shrinkflation” - where retailers maintain the price of a product but secretly reduce the portion size - and asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) if it can work with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to examine the prevalence of this practice and encourage retailers to deploy unit pricing in-store. Mr Yong, who declared his interest as president of CASE, added that based on the association's annual complaints statistics, the number of complaints relating to e-commerce transactions surged by 47 per cent in 2023, which he said was “deeply concerning”. He added that urgent action has to be taken to better protect consumers, particularly as purchasing behaviour has shifted towards e-commerce. He urged MTI to review the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act to account for the evolution in consumers' purchasing habits.
In Parliament on Friday (Mar 1), MP Melvin Yong highlighted the issue of “shrinkflation” - where retailers maintain the price of a product but secretly reduce the portion size - and asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) if it can work with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to examine the prevalence of this practice and encourage retailers to deploy unit pricing in-store. Mr Yong, who declared his interest as president of CASE, added that based on the association's annual complaints statistics, the number of complaints relating to e-commerce transactions surged by 47 per cent in 2023, which he said was “deeply concerning”. He added that urgent action has to be taken to better protect consumers, particularly as purchasing behaviour has shifted towards e-commerce. He urged MTI to review the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act to account for the evolution in consumers' purchasing habits.
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