Establishment of a consumer protection agency couldn't come at a better time, what with the current deterioration of the consumer environment, consumer affairs minister Seiko Noda said Tuesday.
Improving consumer administration, including creating a consumer affairs agency, "is one of the most important policy agenda (items) for the current Cabinet," Noda, newly appointed state minister in charge of consumer affairs, told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has stressed that coming up with comprehensive measures for consumers will be a priority in the extraordinary Diet session that starts Sept. 12. He plans to establish a consumer affairs agency in fiscal 2009.