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VIII Consumer Protection

Other organizations that promote consumer protection include government organizations and self-regulating business organizations such as consumer protection agencies and organizations, the Federal Trade Commission, ombudsmen, Better Business Bureaus, etc.

A consumer is defined as someone who acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.^[1]

Consumer interests can also be protected by promoting competition in the markets which directly and indirectly serve consumers, consistent with economic efficiency, but this topic is treated in competition law.

United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection

The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection is a declaration of best practices in consumer protection law and policy. The Guidelines are not binding, but do provide a set of basic consumer protection objectives upon which governments have agreed, thereby serving as a policy framework for implementation at a national level.^[1] Whilst directed primarily at governments, some provisions of the Guidelines are also directed at businesses.^[2]

History

The earliest known statement of consumer rights at a political level was given on 16 March 1962, when President John F Kennedy of the United States delivered a speech to Congress in which he outlined four consumer rights: the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to be heard.

In 1981, the United Nations Economic and Social Council "requested the Secretary-General to continue consultations on consumer protection with a view to elaborating a set of general guidelines for consumer protection, taking particularly into account the needs of the developing countries".^[3]

In 1983, draft guidelines for consumer protection were submitted to ECOSOC in response to its request. Following extensive discussions and negotiations, the Guidelines were adopted by consensus resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 April 1985. They have since been amended by the addition of a new section on sustainable consumption on 26 July 1999.^[1]

Structure

The Guidelines originally covered seven areas: physical safety, promotion and protection of consumers' economic interests, standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods and services, distribution facilities for essential consumer goods and services, measures enabling consumers to obtain redress, education and information programmes, and measures relating to specific areas (food, water, and pharmaceuticals). With their amendment in 1999, an eighth area, promotion of sustainable consumption, was added.

Reaction

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which is the subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly that holds responsibility for consumer protection and competition policy, states that the Guidelines "take into account the interests and needs of consumers, particularly those in developing countries."^[4] A 1993 report on progress in implementation of the Guidelines by the UN Secretary-General noted that most governments who responded "reported that the guidelines had had a significant impact on their work" on consumer policy.^[5]

The reception of the Guidelines within the consumer movement has been positive. One consumer advocate has described them as having "made a major contribution to the advancement of the position of consumers around the world."^[6] The eight sections of the Guidelines have also been restated as eight consumer rights by the NGO Consumers International, expanding upon those recognised by President Kennedy.^[7]

On the other hand, at the time of their negotiation the Guidelines were opposed by certain business interests and developed countries as paternalistic,^[6] and they have since been criticised as vague, overblown and unnecessary.^[8]

Future

In 2011, Consumers International, which was involved in preparatory work for the original guidelines^[6] and the sustainable consumption amendments,^[1] developed a suggested set of further amendments to the Guidelines covering the topic of access to knowledge.^[9]

About the directive

The idea behind the Directive was to combine a high level of consumer protection with freeing up international trade in the European Union. The theory is that differences in fair trading laws from country to country caused obstacles to trade (see Article 1 of the Directive and the recitals to it). In other words, the problem is not how strong consumer protection laws are in one country or another country, but rather the fact that the consumer protection laws are different from country to country. The Directive is supposed to reduce those differences, but keep a good level of consumer protection. That is supposed to be good for both business and consumers: good for businesses because they do not need to worry quite as much as before about different rules in different legal systems (though some difficulties are inevitable), and good for consumers because we have a decent level of consumer protection. Consumers can also expect the same kinds of consumer protection from country to country (again with some exceptions), which may make them feel safer buying things from abroad.

The Directive is designed to achieve what is called "maximum harmonisation" of business-to-consumer fair trading law. The idea of "maximum harmonisation" is that as well as requiring member states of the European Union to apply the standards set out in European legislation, the European legislation means that the member states are not allowed to apply higher standards. In other words, the Directive tells European countries to give consumers the protection set out in the Directive, but nothing better than that. That maximum harmonisation is not yet in force.