Consumer's Bill of Rights

Eight Consumer Rights

Former President John F. Kennedy was the first president to enunciate four rights of consumers that he believed needed protection in the marketplace: the right to safety, the right to a choice, the right to know, and the right to be heard. These rights were supported by other presidents. To these four several other rights of later vintage were added by consumer advocates to make a complete consumer bill of rights.

• The right to safety: The consumer has a right to be protected from dangerous products that might cause injury of illness as well as from the thoughtless actions of other consumers.
• The right to a choice: The consumer has the right to be able to select products from a range of alternatives offered by competing firms.
• The right to know: The consumer must have access to readily available, relevant, and accurate information to use in making purchase decisions.
• The right to be heard: The consumer must be able to find someone who will respond to legitimate complaints about abuses taking place in the market and products that do not meet expectations.
• The right to recourse and redress: The consumer has a right to full compensation for injuries or damages suffered as a result of unsafe products or abuses in the marketplace.
• The right to full value: The consumer has a right to expect a product to perform as advertised and meet the expectations that were created so that the consumer is getting full value for the money spent.
• The right to education: Consumers must have access to educational programs that help them understand and use the information available in the marketplace to make rational purchase decisions.
• The right to representation and participation: Consumer interests must be represented on policymaking bodies that deal with issues related to the marketplace.

These rights were believed to need government legislation and regulation to be protected adequately as the marketplace itself did not provide enough incentives [Page 439]for business to respect these rights in all their actions related to consumers. Congress responded with a host of legislation in the 1960s and 1970s that was directed at one or more of these rights of consumers. New regulatory agencies such as the Consumer Products Commission were created and new powers given to existing agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. These rights have been of continuing concern in government as new issues related to secondhand smoke and safety issues about drugs and other products surfaced.

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