The right to know in consumption is an important part of consumers’ rights，a requirement to enable consumers to spend sensibly，and also a base for building a safe consumption environment.In 2006，the All-China Women’s Federation，Women of China magazine and Huakun Women Consumption Guidance Center jointly carried out a survey on women’s right to know in consumption before March 15 Consumer’s Day.

The survey was conducted by Huakun Women Consumption Guidance Center in five cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.It handed out 1010 questionnaires and 996 returned.The rate of return is 98.7 per cent.

The survey targeted women aged 20～70，with a middle and above income level.They are seen as a group having comparatively strong buying power.

1.Main aspects that interviewees do not know

The survey shows 53.6 per cent interviewees consider，as consumers，their right to know products and services has not been guaranteed.They think information on products，products’ weakness in particular，is often missing.This ranks on top of the complaints，with 46.8 per cent respondents，followed by “pricing not transparent”，22.1 per cent，and “full information not available”，18.5 per cent.Another 11.5 per cent interviewees complain they do not understand the products’ description since it is “beyond my knowledge”.

2.Which trade needs transparency most

The survey shows，when asked which trade needs transparency most，21.5 per cent interviewees choose medical and health treatment trade，18.5 per cent health-care products，14.2 per cent real estate，10.7 per cent cosmetics and 9.3 per cent education.

3.Which product interviewees worry most

The survey reveals 26 per cent interviewees worry most about health-care products，21.4 per cent worry about cooked food，13.3 per cent cosmetics，12.9 per cent medicine，and 10.8 per cent meat.

4.Which among the health-care products interviewees worry most

The survey shows among the health-care products，40.4 per cent interviewees worry most about slim products，16.2 per cent health tonics products，14.7 per cent beauty enhancement products.

5.Reasons for worry

The survey shows why interviewees worry about health-care products and do not dare to buy.First，42.5 per cent are afraid of “elements harmful to health，” 27.1 per cent do not know “whether it is safe for long-time users”，19.3 per cent are not sure of the products’ effects.

6.Unsettling consumption and why

The survey reveals interviewees cannot always be rest assured when buying.32.5 per cent give the reason they “do not know whether there is any element harmful to health”.26.7 per cent are afraid of “buying fake products”，15.4 per cent “unreliable production date and quality guarantee”，and 14.8 per cent pollution while 10.3 per cent do not know “whether products are effective as advertised.”

7.Shopping places that interviewees have confidence in

The survey shows 32.2 per cent interviewees find shopping malls and big department stores are relatively safe places to shop，27.9 per cent prefer supermarkets，24.2 per cent consider brand stores.Only 6.3 per cent say at present “there is no safe place consumers can shop completely rest assured”.

8.Access to products’ information

The survey results show that 25.4 per cent interviewees get production information from advertisement，23.7 per cent from product manual，23.2 per cent from authority’s sample examination data and results，18.3 per cent from media exposure，and 9.3 per cent from shop assistants’ introduction.

9.The most difficult product manual

Product manuals are a chief source of information for consumers to understand any product.According to the survey，72.6 per cent interviewees express they cannot understand immediately after reading product manuals.Among them，28.8 per cent complain about insurance agreement，16.1 per cent medicine description and instruction，15.8 per cent health-care product instruction，11.5 per cent computer manual，and 9.7 per cent cosmetics instruction.

10.Practices that harm consumers’ right to know

The survey shows 26.4 per cent interviewees say they hate most the practice of one-sided advisement by “only describing the good，leaving out shortcomings and unsafe probability”，23.8 per cent “hiding true product information”，23.2 per cent “exaggerated effects by ads”，10.4 per cent “creating misguided concepts”，and 6.1 per cent “false bonus sales”.

11.What to know

According to the survey，80.3 per cent interviewees understand that，as consumers they have the right to know.But what to know is not clear to them.The majority of interviewees say they have the right to know production date and after-sale service.Few can give a complete answer to their right to know.

12.How interviewees respond when their interests are infringed upon

The survey shows 65 per cent interviewees have suffered losses because they were deprived of the right to know.When it h