SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG--The establishment of a consumer protection agency is called for by independent Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo.

Consumer protection laws exist, but with no agency to execute the laws, she said in a press statement on Sunday.

Marlin-Romeo intends to champion an "immediate" discussion about establishment of the agency with St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce, Bureau Telecommunication and Post St. Maarten (BTP-SXM), Social Economic Council (SER), the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, notaries, government and Parliament as co-legislator.

She intends to also contact Tourism and Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunications (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor, whose ministry is responsible for setting up the agency, to get the process started.

"A consumer in St. Maarten has the right to know their rights and be protected by the country in which goods or services were purchased or rendered for direct use or ownership," said Marlin-Romeo.

Statistics continue to show that St. Maarten is still considered and favoured as the

duty-free shopping hub of the Caribbean.

"Millions are spent in purchases on this island and yet both local consumers and transitional consumers purchasing goods are still not privy to the support of a consumer protection agency."

Consumers have experienced some dispute about low-quality, inferior and/or counterfeit products sold by businesses, or falling victim to "unscrupulous business practices such as disputes with banks and notaries," she said.

It is "imperative" for an agency to be established, similar to the American Better Business Bureau (BBB) or the Autoriteit Consument and Markt (ACM) in the Netherlands, she said.