EDITORIAL: Consumer affairs

There is a glaring lack of an effective system to provide counseling to consumers on a range of complaints, including door-to-door sales and credit contracts. The change of government and the creation of the Consumer Affairs Agency was supposed to have led to a significant improvement in the situation.

Consumer affairs centers operated by prefectural and municipal governments have been inundated with complaints, especially concerning multiple debts. The number of cases filed with local governments around the nation doubled in 10 years from 415,000 in fiscal 1998 to 939,000, according to the agency.

Meanwhile, the number of consumer affairs centers increased by only 30 percent. The number of specialist advisers who provide telephone and face-to-face counseling rose by a mere 10 percent. The budget and the number of officials that local governments allocate to their consumer counseling sections have actually declined, by as much as 30 to 40 percent.

During this period, local governments in a fiscal squeeze have steadily cut their budgets and workforces. On average, local governments across the country have reduced their overall expenditures and employees by about 10 percent. The budgets and staffs of consumer counseling sections have shrunk much more sharply, indicating that these services have been high on the hit list.

However, some local governments have expanded their consultation services in spite of the harsh fiscal environment.

Morioka, for instance, has raised the number of its consumer advisers to 13 from three in fiscal 1998 so as to better deal with the problem of multiple debtors. Working with five municipal government employees, the 13 advisers annually handle around 1,500 cases involving debt-ridden consumers.

Morioka has expanded its service based on the notion that multiple debts often result from economic misfortune that should not be blamed entirely on the debtors. The city regarded it as its responsibility to respond to this problem of poverty.

At the city hall of Yasu, Shiga Prefecture, people in financial difficulties can receive counseling from municipal officials in various sections in a consultation room on the first floor. This saves them from going from one section to another.

Many heavily indebted citizens are in arrears on their tax payments, contributions to the national pension program and rent for public housing. The city's consumer advisers work with the municipal government's tax, welfare, education and waterworks sections to help these citizens regain their financial footing.

Hiromi Shozu, one of the advisers, says a local government has the advantage of being able to respond fully to the problem.

Both Morioka and Yasu work in close cooperation with outside experts like lawyers and judicial scriveners.

The main purpose of public-sector consumer counseling services has shifted from offering useful tips on daily life and information about products to supporting the needy and rescuing victims of unscrupulous business practices. Now, central and local governments need to change their thinking about consumer administration.

Instead of simply waiting for requests for counseling, the central and local governments should make proactive efforts to ferret out troubled citizens and help them overcome their problems. The problem of multiple debtors is one of the major factors behind policy challenges confronting local governments, including a surge in the number of households on welfare. Solving the consumer debt problem would do a lot to help local governments tackle these challenges.

It is essential to improve the working conditions of consumer advisers as many of them are part-time workers. Local governments must consider making these advisers full-time employees and raising their pay.

The Consumer Affairs Agency and the government's Consumer Commission have started debate with outside experts on key issues concerning consumer counseling, including the division of roles between the central and local governments and financial support. The debate should produce good ideas for bolstering consumer counseling services.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 18