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Bill: Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914
Details
Submitted by[?]: Borgerlig-Demokratiske Union
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: June 3915
Description[?]:
| Mr Speaker, this is a relaunch of the Consumer Sovereignty Act we tried to pass in the last tenure. We believe that consumers should be well-informed, but not patronized by the government. It is commonly known that addictive substances such as tobacco are harmful, and we should not act as if the consumers were unaware of simple facts. Such a notion would lead to ever-increasing interference of the state in directing individuals' behavior, which we must not allow to happen. Consequently, we should not require businesses to as dietetics teachers to their customers by imposing frivolous amounts of red tape on them by regulating trivial issues such as the design of the package design they choose to use. This bill will restore rhe culture of consumer sovereignty and do away with the overt paternalism that is not only starting to annoy most people but is also inflicting real damage on businesses. Johan Theisen FV Parliamentary Leader |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Regulation of advertising of substances classified as addictive and harmful (if general advertising by companies is permitted and sale of the addictive/harmful products is allowed).
Old value:: Advertising is restricted.
Current: Advertising is restricted and has to carry strong warning messages.
Proposed: Advertising is legal and unregulated.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change Food and beverage labeling regulations.
Old value:: Companies must clearly label food and beverage products, in a manner that can be easily understood.
Current: Companies must clearly label food and beverage products, in a manner that can be easily understood.
Proposed: Companies are required to label food and beverage products somewhere on the package.
Article 3
Proposal[?] to change
Scope of food ingredient labeling (if present).
Old value:: All ingredients and corresponding nutritional information must be listed.
Current: All ingredients and corresponding nutritional information must be listed.
Proposed: All ingredients must be listed.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 10:45:46, September 30, 2015 CET | From |  Venstre | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Herr President, How scaling back the rights of consumers to know what is in the food they buy is somehow a restoration of "consumer sovereignty" is beyond me. Herr Thiesen seems to be in the need of a dictionary. Johan Bratteli Industry spokesman |
| Date | 11:05:32, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Borgerlig-Demokratiske Union | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Mr Speaker, The right to be nannied by the state is not something we believe in. The current laws undermine consumer sovereignty by attaching state-decreed statements of disapproval to certain products such as tobacco, which everyone is aware of being unhealthy without the state moralizingly wagging his finger at the consumer. Johan Theisen FV Parliamentary Leader |
| Date | 11:23:14, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Folkepartiet (People's Party) | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Herr President, And does Herr Theisen's utopian consumer also have a sixth sense for the nutritional contents of food? Because I can assure him: the consumer doesn't have it, and as a result, people will suffer from increasing health issue. Or maybe I should put it closer to his heart and put it this way: this will lead to spiralling health costs. Finn Martinsen (FP - Dreton) FP Deputy Leader and Economic Spokesman |
| Date | 13:56:59, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Borgerlig-Demokratiske Union | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Mr Speaker, forcing companies to provide corresponding nutritional information goes beyond simply listing contents. It should not be up to food producers to educate customers about the effect of their diet habits. Johan Theisen FV Parliamentary Leader |
| Date | 14:06:22, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Folkepartiet (People's Party) | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Herr President, Then how does Herr Theisen propose that people get to know how many calories there are in their food? How does he expect them to find the cause of dietary problems on their own without the corresponding information? Let's not deny this: this bill is not about the consumers but about the businesses. I wish FV would be more honest about that. Finn Martinsen (FP - Dreton) FP Deputy Leader and Economic Spokesman |
| Date | 17:01:16, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Borgerlig-Demokratiske Union | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | Mr Speaker, it is not as if there were no internet nowadays where people can look in a minute how many calories a certain intake of a given set of ingredients contains. And the cause of dietary problems should probably be looked at individually by a medical professional, not anticipated by corporations. Johan Theisen FV Parliamentary Leader |
| Date | 17:05:46, September 30, 2015 CET | From | Folkepartiet (People's Party) | To | Debating the Consumer Sovereignty Bill, 3914 |
| Message | So how would that work, Herr President? Does Herr Theisen think there is any site where I can google "calory intake without specification of precise amounts of aspartame, water, citrus extract, and so on and so forth" and get an answer? If so, he has a keener grasp of the internet than I have. Finn Martinsen (FP - Dreton) FP Deputy Leader and Economic Spokesman |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||
| yes | Total Seats: 80 | ||||
| no | Total Seats: 51 | ||||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 8 |
| Random fact: Hundreds of vessels were lost while traversing the cold waters of the Sea of Lost Souls. It is located between Seleya and Majatra. |
| Random quote: "If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates." - Jay Leno |