A member of an ad hoc committee shall hold office for a term of two year and section 11 paragraph two and section 12 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

An ad hoc committee has the power and duty as prescribed in this Act and as entrusted by the Board.

Section 15. The Board and the ad hoc committees may appoint a sub-committee to consider or carry out matter as entrusted by Board or the ad hoc committees.

Section 16. In the meeting of an ad hoc committee and of a sub-committee. Section 13 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Section 17. The Board and the ad hoc committees have the power to order any person to submit documents or
particulars in connection with the subject-matter of complaints or other matters in connection with the protection of the consumer’s right for consideration. For this purpose, the person concerned may be summoned to give an explanation.

Section 18. in the performance of duties under Act, the Board or the ad hoc committees shall provide reasonable opportunity for the person accused or suspected of having committed an act infringing the consumer’s rights to submit representation and express opinion except in the case of necessity or urgency.

In the stipulation or issue of order on any matter under this Act, the Board or the ad hoc committees shall give due regard to the damage which may be caused to both the consumer and the business man; and in the case where it is deemed reasonable, the Board or the ad hoc committees may stipulate provisional conditions or procedure for the enforcement thereof.

Section 19 There shall be established the Office of the Consumer Protection Board attached to the Office of the Prime Minister.

There shall be the Secretary-General of the Consumer Protection Board having powers and duties to exercise general supervision and being responsible for the performance of official duties of the Office of the consumer Protection Board, and there may be the Deputy Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General to assist in the administration of the affairs of the office.

Section 20. The Office of the Consumer Protection Board shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) to receive complaints from the consumer who suffer hardship or injury resulting from the acts of the business man for further submission to the Board;
(2) to follow up and scrutinize actions of the business man who may do any thing infringing the consumer’s right, and arrange for testing or verifying any goods or services as it think proper for the protection of the consumer’s right;
(3) to encourage or conduct the study and research on the problem concerning the consumer protection with other academic institutions and other agencies;
(4) to promote and encourage the Providing of education the consumers at all levels on safety and harm from the goods or service;
(5) to propagate technical information and provide educational information to consumer in order to instill the consumption habit promote health, is economical and maximizes the utilization of natural resources;
(6) to co-operate with the government offices or state, agencies which have the power and duty to control, promote or prescribe the standard of goods or services;
(7) to do any other acts as entrusted by the Board or the ad hoc committees.

Chapter II
Consumer Protection

Section 21. In the case where any law has specifically provided for any matter, such matter shall be subject to the provisions of such law, and the provision of this Act shall apply only in so far as it is not a repetition or contrary to such provision, unless;

(1) In the case of necessity for the benefits of the consumers as a whole, if it appears that the competent official under such law has still not proceeded or has not completed the proceeding thereof in accordance with the law concerned and has not issued orders pertaining to consumer protection in accordance with such law within ninety days as from the date of the receipt of the written notice from the ad hoc committees or the Board, the ad hoc committees or the Board shall submit to the Prime Minister the matter for issuing orders in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter;

(2) In the case under (1), if it is necessary and urgent which can not delay, the ad hoc committees or the Board shall submit to the Prime Minister the matter for considering and issuing orders in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter without notifying in written thereof or waiting until the period of ninety days in accordance with the conditions in (1) is elapsed. In the case where such law does not contain any provisions empowering the competent official to issue orders for the consumer protection as provided on this Chapter, the ad hoc committees shall have the power to issue orders in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, except in the case where such law has provided for a competent official, the Board may delegate the power to the competent official under such law to exercise it on behalf of the ad hoc committees. The delegation of power to the competent official under the law on such matter under paragraph two shall be published in the Government Gazette.

Part 1
Consumer Protection against Advertising

Section 22. An advertisement may not contain a statement which is unfair to consumers or which may cause adverse effect to the society as a whole; that is, notwithstanding such statement concerns with the origin, condition, quality or description of goods or services as well as the delivery, procurement or use of goods or services.

The following statements shall be regarded as those which are unfair to consumers or may cause adverse effect to the society as a whole:
(1) Statement which is false or exaggerated;
(2) Statement which will cause misunderstanding in the essential elements concerning goods or services, notwithstanding it is based on or refers to any technical report, statistics or anything which is false or exaggerated;
(3)Statement which is directly or indirectly encouraging the commission of an unlawful or immoral act, or which adversely affects the national culture;
(4)Statement which will cause disunity or adversely affects the unity among the public;
(5)Other statements as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.

A statement used in the advertisement which an ordinary person knows that it is not possible to be true is not prohibited for use in the advertisement under (1).

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