Consumers International and its Members drive support for consumer protection at the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Market volatility, political change, budgetary cuts. The issues consumer advocates face continue to challenge but not define us. As consumer protection faces a critical juncture, our role championing consumer protection has never been more important.

In our consultative status to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), next week Consumers International and its Members join the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection. In an ever evolving digital marketplace, the Conference provides a vital forum for our work – a place we share global consumer insights and priorities, and collaborate for cross-border cooperation and commitments.

Alongside a Member delegation we bring to the Conference and the input from our wider network, we will share how consumer protection changes lives, drives consumer safety and advances inclusive growth. We spotlight the advocates behind its implementation and enforcement and look at how new and stronger bridges can be built worldwide for greater impact.

Building bridges for impact, innovation, efficiency

Despite operating in uncertainty and to modest budgets, for years consumer groups are often the first to identify emerging trends and issues – they educate and empower, monitor markets, gather data, input to robust public policies, and they are the trusted voice to people in their nations.

At times of global change, consumer advocates should be seen as a reliable and priority partner to governments, international bodies and other actors, helping these decision-makers who are often hard pressed to navigate diverse viewpoints, and contend with the influence and resources of large corporations.

In a survey we conducted with our Members in late 2023 we identified securing government support as a top priority and challenge for consumer groups. Since then we have seen positive examples of how consumer groups have worked with governments for change. This collaboration can be built on.

What can collaboration look like?

Fair Food Prices

In 2023-2024 our Fair Food Prices initiative united associations in over 20 African countries with policymakers to tackle food price issues. We developed a grassroots method for tracking prices at various levels and we drove accountability reaching over 30 million people through media campaigns.

This effort led to regulatory responses across the region. In Kenya our Member, Youth Education Network (YEN) collaborated with officials including the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) who later led inquiries such as one into the animal feed market revealing a deeply uncompetitive sector, with four firms controlling over half the market.

Fair Digital Finance Accelerator

Our Fair Digital Finance Accelerator (FDFA), which unites 70+ organisations across low- and middle-income countries, to inform dialogue and action from regulators and industry has seen impact ripple around the world. After joining the FDFA in 2022, our Member, IDEC in Brazil used the technical knowledge it gained through the FDFA initiative and sub-granting support to build a multilingual platform to help consumers report scams, access legal tools and share compelling stories quickly. This platform became a national resource and inspired other Members of the FDFA.

IDEC used this innovation, insights and efficient approach to influence the Central Bank and Data Protection Authority to push for better redress and fraud prevention mechanisms.

Countries involved in the Fair Food Prices initiative

Member delegates share their work

IDEC and YEN join other Members at the UNCTAD Conference who will speak to the ways they deliver change for consumers across key themes covered by the event. Some select examples include those below.

Collaboration with government for impact: The National Consumer Association, St Lucia joined forces with several government departments to develop a new Online Platform to Streamline Consumer Complaints.

To advance the circular economy: CADEF is supporting Nigeria’s National Renewable Energy Policy through in-depth discussions and collaborative strategies with a range of stakeholders across policy and energy and investment sectors.

Combatting greenwashing: IDEC is working to advocate for legislation against greenwashing, to increase consumer trust to help encourage sustainable living.

Fair & Responsible AI: FNAC (Morocco) has been joining national discussion with experts to explore the impact of AI on cybersecurity, data privacy and regulation and develop appropriate standards.

Digital tools to help enforcement: In collaboration with the government, Consumentenbond (Netherlands) has developed a tool "What does my healthcare cost?" in collaboration with the government and the joint information portal Consuwijzer. It has also developed "Privacymeter," which systematically investigates online companies' handling of personal data and assigns a privacy score.

Advancing product safety: The Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC, India) has a strong track record in delivering community empowerment programmes – this includes educating millions of consumers on product safety amongst other issues so they can make informed decisions.

Consumer redress across borders: Consumentenbond participates in initiatives like the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform for cross-border online purchases.

Driving resilient food supply chains: IDEC’s Organic Market Map has become a key tool to connect consumers and producers.

Follow us across the week

During the week we will share our message from the UNCTAD Conference as we speak from the floor, convene exclusive dialogue with leaders and join simultaneous events taking place in Geneva during the week.

Monday 07 July: We focus on how consumer advocates and UNCTAD can collaborate for impact, what technical support is needed, and we join in celebrating the implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection which mark their 40th Anniversary this year.

Tuesday 08 July: We home in on the ways government and consumer organisation representatives can collaborate for change, sharing inspiring examples and looking at how we can build stronger bridges amidst global change.

Wednesday 09 July: Key UNCTAD conversations we join include those centred on the interlinkages between competition and consumer protection policies, developments in digital markets, and product safety.

Thursday 10 July: We discuss global issues and the impact on consumer safety. We join the AI for Good Summit, sharing consumer insights on the priority risks we need to address and setting the scene for our intervention on Friday.