The development of prioritization method for consumer protection risk management of unsafe products

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop the criteria for priortizing unsafe products, as part of the consumer protection management.

Methods: The study was conducted by reviewing relevant literature, drafting criteria for priority unsafe products, testing the criteria with some unsafe products for applicability, setting elements with their weight and perceived degrees for each element. Then the prioritization method under the real situation was implemented in 10 provinces and 3 districts across Thailand.

Results: The study found that the criteria consisted of two main topics: risk assessment and possibility of risk management. The risk assessment had eight aspects including health impact (30%), effected population (20%), using/contacting frequency (10%), estimated contact and effected population (10%), residue remains in environment and may cause human harm (10%), produce/use quantity (10%), international action (the country level of 10% and province and district level of 5%) and domestic action (no ratio for country, province and district rate, 5%). The possibility of risk management had six aspects including the availability of substitution (10%), price of substitution goods in consumer’s views (10%), quality of substitution goods in consumer’s views (10%), degree of effects on manufacturer, entrepreneur and stakeholders (10%), cooperation of public, consumer, scholar, state agency, entrepreneur and politician (the country and province level of 40% and district level of 50%) and politics related to government policy (the country and province level of 20% and district level of 10%)

Conclusion: The newly developed criteria for the priority of unsafe products can be used as a tool for screening the significant problems of unsafe products to operate the consumer protection. However, there may be some limitations about the availability of technical databases on unsafe products to support the prioritization.