UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection

Why amend the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection?

Because digital consumers are being treated unfairly

• Did you ever purchase a movie from overseas, only to find it wouldn't work on your player back home?

• Do you hate having to click “I agree” to pages of legalese that could be taking away your rights?

• Would you like to be able to freely transfer e-books between your devices and to share them with family members?

Our amendments will give you the same rights whether you buy digital or analogue, online or offline.

Because your privacy matters

• Are marketers tracking you across the Web without your permission?

• Are you worried about how securely your personal data is being kept online, and what recourse you might have if it leaks out?

• Can you easily move the documents, photos and videos that you have stored online to another provider?

We propose to add the preservation of your privacy as a cross-cutting objective of the Guidelines.

Because everyone deserves access to an open and fair Internet

• Did you ever have a dispute over an online purchase that you had no effective way to resolve?

• Do you hate being forced to take a bundle of services, and to sign up for a long period, just to gain access to the Internet?

• Would you like free online access to the consumer laws, standards and safety information that affect you, in your own language?

The amendments we propose will promote an open, neutral, fair and diverse Internet.

The amendments proposed by CI and supported by the global consumer movement will update and strengthen the Guidelines, for the benefit of consumers everywhere. You will be able to download a full copy of our proposals soon. To support these amendments, contact your local CI member.

More information

Since 2010, CI has been engaged in proposing revisions to the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection to incorporate A2K principles that are important for today’s consumers. In 2012, this project was expanded to include a full review of the Guidelines. Therefore some of the information formerly maintained here has been moved.

• For the interactive website used for commenting on the text of the proposed amendments, see the new dedicated microsite.
• For discussion of the A2K-specific amendments see the UNESCO Knowledge Communities
• You can download the Guidelines as a PDF file which includes the proposed revisions incorporating all comments received to August 2011, but for the updated proposal that contains broader revisions please consult the new microsite.
• Finally a separate page is maintained about the research on the Guidelines amendments that CI is coordinating to produce a body of evidence in support of the process.

If none of the above are what you were looking for, please contact us.