The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade, through the Directorate of Commerce, is conducting nationwide engagements with key stakeholders.
The ministry is engaging with local authorities, consumers, the business community as well as political office bearers on matters pertaining to the administration of the Liquor Act, Act no 6 of 1998, and the recently launched National Consumer Protection Policy as well as the Consumer Protection Bill.
The first engagement is scheduled to take place in Windhoek on 23 September 2022 at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security (Ground floor, Training hall) from 08h00.
The engagements are open to the public, and all interested parties are invited to attend.
At the beginning of this year, government was urged to urgently enact a consumer protection law to safeguard consumers against industries that employ unfair, discriminatory and abusive trade practices.
The absence of a generally applicable consumer protection law has been identified as problematic for Namibian consumers, who continue to be disadvantaged.
According to Namibia Consumer Trust (NCT) activist Michael Gawaseb, government should rapidly implement a consumer protection law to cater for consumer interests.
At the time, the trade ministry said it had commenced with the development of a consumer protection bill.
The ministry launched a consumer protection policy in 2021, which is expected to direct the formulation of the legislation.