Consumer Fair Online is brought to you monthly by the National Consumer Forum, publishers of Consumer Fair newspaper.

In this Edition:

LOCAL

Our copyright law needs a re-vamp... please sign

The NCF is working with African Commons for a consultative and inclusive review of the Copyright Act – which dates back to 1978 and is not suited to the developmental needs of the modern information age.

Click READ MORE about this campaign, and to add your name to our petition

NCF's knowledge centre gets rolling

After an exciting launch recently, the National Consumer Forum's Access to Knowledge centre in Mpumalanga province is gearing up for action. The centre, in the rural town of KwaMhlanga, has been up-skilling trainers for the planned training to be offered to local residents; the training will include financial literacy, health/nutrition and small business development.

Click READ MORE

Stamping down on touting for World Cup

A new regulation from the Department of Trade and Industry makes it unlawful for anyone to sell or "otherwise dispose" of FIFA World Cup tickets for commercial purposes; doing this is now an "unfair business practice".

Click to READ MORE

GLOBAL

Junk food generation

This month the World Health Organisation has called on all governments to take action on the marketing of junk food to children. The WHO recommends that governments develop policies to reduce the impact of this kind of marketing; it says that governments could ban all junk food marketing in areas where children are gathered, such as in schools and playgrounds.

Click to READ MORE about this and Consumers International's campaign for an international code on the marketing of food to children.

Click to READ MORE about the WHO recommendations – particularly look at section 6 (b) (v)

World No Tobacco Day – A time to act

Monday 31 May is World No-Tobacco Day, and this year the focus is on the harm of tobacco marketing to women and girls. This is especially relevant to the African continent where the major challenge is to maintain the current low levels of tobacco use amongst females. Tobacco marketing is eroding this status.

Click to READ MORE

CONSUMER TIPS

10 tips to tackle bad customer service and get results

When confronted with bad customer service, do you sometimes think it will end up being too much hassle to speak up about it? Or can such situations have the opposite effect on you, prompting you to go so ballistic that you can never do business with the erring company again? This US columnist has some good suggestions that can apply just as well here in SA.

Click to READ MORE

Consumer Fair is out next week!

USEFUL RESOURCE

Thinking about money

The website thinkmoney.co.za is a useful place to visit if you want to look after your rands and cents carefully. It helps you compare the prices of different financial and other services on the market – from homeloans to medical aid schemes and cellphones. It also has some very useful calculator tools, to help you to get to grips with what you are spending (or may end up spending!) on interest and fees with your loans.

Click to READ MORE to go to the website

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NCF news

The NCF is also invited by radio and television stations, as well as print media, to comment on consumer-related issues. Here are some recent broadcasts or articles you can download:

• Comment on toll roads
• E24 – Interest rates and petrol price [Audio]
• Electricity in Free State [Audio]
• NCF chairman Thami Bolani is on Ikwekwezi FM every weekday morning at 8.40am. Click here to go to the NCF website to download and listen to his comments on a range of consumer topics of the day

The NCF is an independent non-governmental organisation working for a consumer-friendly South Africa – where the rights of consumers are respected and enforced. For more information, visit www.ncf.org.za.
Contact NCF:
Tel: 012 428 7071
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© National Consumer Forum 2010