A carnival featuring the services of the Consumer Arbitration Centre will be held by the Consumer Council on 29th November at 3.00pm at Jardim Vasco da Gama. Booth games, legal counselling services on consumer arbitration and information about the Consumer Arbitration Centre will be exhibited during the event. Since the establishment of the Consumer Arbitration Centre in 1998, the Centre has resolved the disputes by way of "Mediation First, Arbitration Next", and disputes have been settled efficiently through this mechanism. The Centre helps ease the tensions between the disputants and thus saving time and social costs. The Consumer Council conducted a consumer satisfaction survey on the services of the Consumer Arbitration Centre earlier and interviewed consumers and businesses that have used the Centre's service. The interviewees indicated that they were either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the service and efficiency of the Centre. In recent years, more and more consumers seek to resolve the disputes through the Centre, and a total of 520 cases are being handled by the Centre by the third quarter of 2014. The Consumer Council has held community carnivals in recent years to promote the Regulations and services of the Centre, and introduced to the general public the advantages of using the Centre's service: legal, fair, professional, efficient and free of charge. The Consumer Council states that the promotion over the years has enhanced the public's awareness of the Centre.
The carnival will be held on 29th November at 3.00pm at Jardim Vasco da Gama, and citizens are welcome to participate. Besides booth games, exhibition, quiz games and legal counselling services on consumer arbitration, the Council will be introducing the "Supermarket Price Information Platform" service and citizens can download the "Supermarket Price Information Platform" mobile phone apps for price comparison of products when making purchases at supermarkets. Three other community carnivals will be held on 6th, 13th and 27th December at Parque Dr. Carlos D' Assumpção, Jardim de Luis de Camões and Zona de Lazer Rua Quatro do Bairro Iao Hon respectively. For inquiry, please call 8988-9315.
