WHISTLE - Consumer complaint channel

Abstract

Consumer Protection Violation & Unfair Trade Practices has significant impact on the economic growth of the country. Competition and Consumer Rights protection laws are regulated with industrial policies considered as instruments of achieving economic growth and sustainable development. Along with continuous market diversion to digital platforms and emergence of new types of complaints to the retail product and service markets, consumer rights should be protected adapting and establishing new digital solutions. Consumers need to secure their rights and have easy access to remediation channels for effective trade dispute resolution and redress in context of digital marketplace. While many developing nations travel ahead in protecting data from tech giants and multi-national companies, Sri Lanka yet striving to figure out the traditional market malpractices and regulate the businesses to provide quality products and services. The comparison also to be seen in a broader view where Consumer Affairs Authority established by Parliament Act of 2003 serve in terms traditional way of regulating the businesses and has not adopted to the latest trends in digital marketplaces. This research proposes a solution to address these concerns and aims to integrate the available technologies and telecommunication means as smartphones and digital devices are mingled with daily routine. Thus, considering the requirements identified a web application – “Whistle” has been developed capable of lodging the complaints from mobile or PC. Whistle also facilitates consumers to lodge the complaint from business premises by detecting the unique identification. The solution was evaluated by technology experts and end users.