Eastern Europe & FSU
World Consumer Rights Day 2011 in Eastern Europe and the Former
Soviet Union
CI members across this region undertook a range of actions on 15
March, including:
The
National Consumer Organisation of Serbia (NOPS) organised a
public debate together with a number of banks to examine, among
other issues, a draft law on financial consumer protection. Over
110 participants representing the National Bank of Serbia,
financial service providers, experts, consumer organisations and
the media attended. NOPS also presented CI's G20 recommendations to
the government.
National Association of Consumers (ANNA), Armenia launched a
'Better Service' initiative under the umbrella of CI's Consumer for
Fair Financial Services campaign. A consumer survey was conducted
which found the three main areas of concern to be long queues, high
interest rates on loans and inconvenient bank branch opening times.
These results were presented to the major Armenian banks in a
series of meetings and publicly released at a WCRD press
conference. Following these outreach activities, ANNA
President Melita Hakobayan was elected to the Central Bank's
consumer commission.
Zveza Potrošnikov Slovenije (ZPS), Slovenia, held a press
conference to highlight WCRD and CI's new recommendations to the
G20 on consumer protection in financial services.
The
Association of Consumers of Serbia, (APOS) distributed a
WCRD-themed edition of the 'Consumer Reporter' newsletter.
The
Romanian Association for Consumers' Protection is used WCRD to
launch a debate on the national strategy on financial education, as
part of their ongoing national campaign on financial education and
family budgeting.
The
Albanian Consumer Association (ACA) disseminated a number of
WCRD-related materials to various government bodies, and publicised
the day throughout the national media.