According to officials from the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce the bill could be presented in the second quarter.

Permanent Secretary Willet Hamilton says the ministry late last year prepared the first draft which will, as part of a larger consumer protection bill, cover aspects of hire purchase.

But the Guyana Consumer Association says hire purchase must be addressed directly.

Legislation is important because with hire purchase, a consumer can only claim ownership of their goods after they have completely paid for their items.

Thus, if a consumer is almost finished paying and for whatever reason is unable to continue paying their installments, the store which made the agreement, remains the item's owner and has the right to confiscate it.

Consumer Activist Eileen Cox advocates that it is because of such actions that there must be a Hire Purchase Act in place and this should be separate from a Consumer Protection Bill. One draft of a 1992 Hire Purchase Act, seen by Stabroek Business, has over 20 clauses and these, she says, cannot all be placed within one Consumer Protection Bill and must stand separately.

Cox adds that if a consumer has completed paying the cash value of the item then it should not be confiscated.

She argues that the ministry should adopt the Caricom Consumer Protection Bill in the meantime, until legislation is passed in parliament.

Sheila Holder, a parliamentarian and veteran consumer advocate explains that Guyana should have had a comprehensive Consumer Protection Bill in place many years ago.

"The issues goes beyond hire purchase legislation," Holder says, adding that what is needed is a comprehensive Consumer Protection Bill.

"St. Lucia has used people like me to go into St. Lucia and help them... in the area of consumer protection," she indicates, emphasising that the island only lately developed a consumer association and they already have a bill in place.

At the moment consumer protection laws are scattered around among other legislation in the health care and trade sector, the Poison Act and legislation for the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

By not having a Consumer Protection Bill in place, "We are exposing our people to abuses of various kinds," she argues.

The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce is also preparing to table in parliament a Small Business Act in the second quarter, to address credit rates for small businesses.

The Act seeks to provide credit at an affordable rate for small businesses.