International consumer protection Luke Upchurch Consumers International Moscow, 5 April 2012

About Consumers International 220 member organisations in 115 countries Funded by membership fees and donors institutions Global, independent, not-for-profit Champion consumer rights globally and build consumer right groups nationally

About Consumers International UN ‘General consultative status’ Lead work at International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Partnerships with International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT), European Consumers Bureau (BEUC), Financial Stability Board (FSB), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Our growth Helped develop consumer movement in Central and Eastern Europe in 1990s Consumer advice centres and mediation in Kazakhstan in and Azerbaijan, member organisations in the Former Soviet Union

Our achievements G20 agreement on better financial consumer protection World Health Organization guidelines on the marketing of unhealthy food to children International standard on social responsibility

Our work Consumer groups empowerment Expertise on developing consumer protection legislation Expertise on developing model consumer law Access to training workshops Access to other national organisations Access to international decision-making bodies

Our work International advocacy - Consumers for fair financial services

Our members Subscriber models: Consumer Reports – 8 million subscribers, 600,000 online accounts Which? – 870,000 online and magazine subscribers

Our members Consumer Reports campaign: Lobbied successfully for a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Forced Bank of America to back down on consumer charges.

Our members Which? campaign: ‘The Big Switch’ 260,000 consumer campaign Sign up online, Which? negotiates better deal with energy companies Has gained support from UK government and pushed energy companies to act

“Consumers, by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision…. And yet they are often not heard.”

Our growth

Our members Staff: 1 voluntary groups grass roots Staff: 1,000 multi-million dollar organisations magazine subscription