Consumers Get a New Deal from France's New Government

While the Reagan administration moves to oust consumer protection laws, the new French government is taking consumer affairs more seriously.

Francois Mitterrand has revived France's Department for Consumer Affairs, established by Giscard d'Estaing in 1976 but given virtually no authority. Mitterrand's new Minister for Consumer Affairs, Catherine Lalumiere, will be taking over the Anti-Trust Commission and the Fraud Repression Agency. "We will not simply do research," says a top official, "we intend to manage consumption." The ministry will have discretionary spending power independent of the president and legislature.

The ministry aims to increase citizen participation in decision-making, reduce social inequality and encourage domestic production-rather than imports-in a bid to fight unemployment.

Consumers stand to benefit from stricter labeling specifications as regards quantity and content of packaged goods. And France's 17 consumer associations will be consulted, on all legal drafts concerning consumer services. These associations will have greater access to administrative documents and the new ministry intends to provide grants and facilities to these private organizations.

The new consumer authorities are also planning to fight inflation and increase individual buying power. Perhaps the most interesting method they aim to implement is the publication of a list of around 100 basic items giving the prices of various brands-the list to be periodically revised and advertised in the media. Officials claim this new list will be particularly important in the area of services where consumers face the greatest price hikes.. " It will generally serve to intensify competition and force traders to decrease their profit margins, the ministry hopes.

The vigilance of the new ministry may soon be tested. France's largest consumer organization, the Federal Consumer's Union (FCU), has submitted several cases of commercial malpractice to the French Anti-Trust Commission. One case concerns the sale of identical domestic appliances under different names at different prices. Another involves over-charging by the private companies that are the major parts suppliers to France's water supply system. The decisions of the Anti-Trust Commission in these cases will be one indicator of the real role the Ministry for Consumer Affairs intends to play, say FCU activists.

- Report by Claire Rosemberg, a freelance journalist based in Paris.