Jane Lai
Visitors to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will find it much easier to have complaints resolved after a cross-city complaints mechanism was implemented yesterday by consumer councils in these areas.
The mechanism was revealed at a ceremony to sign an agreement attended by the Shenzhen Consumer Council and its six counterparts at the Shenzhen Guest House yesterday.
The system will feature regular meetings, exchanges, information collection from other cities before it became an efficient platform, the ceremony was told.
Chai Baoguo, vice general secretary of China Consumers Association, and Xu Youjun, head of the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration, and other officials described it as an encouraging move.
Aimed at handling consumer complaints related to tourism spending, e-commerce and distance-shopping, the system would not only help reduce the costs for consumers to protect their rights, but also encourage retailers and service providers to enhance their competitiveness by improving the quality of their products and services, Xu said.
More than exchange and collaboration, the mechanism can most importantly boost the cities cross-region economic development, Xu said.
The Shenzhen Consumer Council, a department of Xu s administration, had started to negotiate with its counterpart in Taiwan for a collaboration mechanism after direct flights between Shenzhen and Taiwan were launched in December 2008.
Early this year, the consumer council also started exchanging ideas with counterparts in Tibet, Xinjiang, Macao, Hong Kong and Guangzhou and organized a series of meetings to further cooperation.
Shenzhen has a close relationship with the other six regions and cities. It is one of Taiwanese businessmen favorite investment destinations. So far, there are more than 5,000 Taiwanese companies in the city, nearly one-fourth the number in Guangdong, and their investment has exceeded US$6 billion, according to figures provided by Taiwan Merchants Association Shenzhen.
The number of Taiwanese tourists to Shenzhen could exceed 500,000 this year while Shenzhen leads in the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan, which was over 1 million, according to Shenzhen s Culture, Sports and Tourism Administration.
One of the initiators, the Shenzhen Consumer Council has already established a joint mechanism to protect consumers rights in 14 Chinese cities, including Wuhan in Hubei Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province. It regularly organizes activities and meetings, and issues reports to benefit consumers.
