World Consumer Rights Day 2025

On Friday, 14 March, the Office for Consumer Affairs within the MCCAA celebrated World Consumer Rights Day with an informational stand in Valletta. During this event, consumers had the opportunity to learn more about their rights and seek professional advice on various consumer-related issues. The activity featured several information sessions covering key topics such as consumer warranties, price indication regulations, available redress mechanisms, and air passenger rights. New leaflets providing information on these subjects were also distributed.

In the context of this event, the Chief Executive Officer of the MCCAA, Ms Carmen Ciantar, spoke about how technological advances and globalisation bring challenges and risks to consumers. She emphasised that a lack of clear regulations and effective enforcement can lead to abuses and negatively impact consumer rights.

Ms Ciantar explained that several laws are currently being transposed, particularly measures addressing practices such as greenwashing and misleading claims about product sustainability. She also discussed new regulations set to come into effect in the near future, which will strengthen consumers' right to product repairs while making the process easier, more accessible, and more affordable for consumers.

Finally, Ms Ciantar emphasised the importance of World Consumer Rights Day as a platform for raising awareness among both consumers and sellers about consumer protection laws. She highlighted the need to build a relationship of trust between all parties involved to ensure a fair marketplace.

The Director General of the Office for Consumer Affairs, Ms Grace Stivala, spoke about the Office’s role in safeguarding consumer rights through synergy between its three directorates. These focus on educating and informing both consumers and sellers, facilitating conciliation in disputes over purchased products and services, and enforcing consumer protection laws. She also highlighted the Office’s crucial role in monitoring and implementing European Union proposals related to consumer affairs.

Ms Stivala provided an overview of the work carried out by the Office for Consumer Affairs over the past year. This included participation in over 140 television and radio programmes and the publication of more than 100 educational articles in local newspapers. The office responded to approximately 9,500 information requests and registered over 1,200 complaints. Additionally, more than 19,000 in-store inspections were conducted to ensure price indications complied with the law, along with thousands of online inspections to verify price displays during sales periods.