International cooperation is gaining importance because of globalisation and digitalisation of the economy. The number of consumers affected by frauds and scams online is much larger than in traditional forms of commerce. In order to create an environment where consumers can participate in online trade with confidence, it is essential to ensure that consumers enjoy concrete rights and are protected from unfair commercial practices and that mechanisms exist to quickly address any problems arising. To this end, effective international cooperation between consumer protection agencies or other relevant bodies is paramount and will require increasing attention in the coming years.
ICPEN – International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network
https://www.icpen.org/who-we-are
OECD
http://www.oecd.org/sti/consumer/
UNCTAD
Informal Dialogue with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Financial Consumer Protection
The European Commission (DG Justice and Consumers) and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) started a dialogue on financial consumer protection,
On 11 April2024, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission and Rohit Chopra, Director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a joint statement summarising three meetings of senior staff and subject matter experts to discuss shared priority areas, as well as a readout from their meeting in Brussels in February 2024.
Read the joint statement - 11 April 2024
On 17 July 2023, in Washington, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission and Rohit Chopra, Director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced the start of an informal dialogue between the European Commission and the US CFPB on a range of critical financial consumer protection issues.
The dialogue aims at exchanging mutual experiences and sharing insights on issues related to consumer financial products and services, and in particular on digital developments in the financial sector and the impact on consumers, to improve policy and regulatory cooperation.
Commissioner Reynders and Director Chopra agreed to meet at least once a year at political level. This informal dialogue will involve staff discussions, including bilateral meetings between senior staff and subject matter experts, and roundtables with stakeholders.
Informal Dialogue with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Consumer Protection
The European Commission (DG Justice and Consumers) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have a longstanding history of cooperation on consumer protection issues, including in multilateral settings, such as in the Committee on Consumer Policy at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and in the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).
In 2021, such cooperation efforts led to the adoption of the “Implementation toolkit on legislative actions for consumer protection enforcement co-operation” Implementation toolkit on legislative actions for consumer protection enforcement co-operation | en | OECD
On 30 March 2022, Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice and Lina Khan, Chair of the United States Federal Trade Commission met in Brussels to discuss how their dialogue on consumer issues can be strengthened, especially in relation to the impact of technological developments, to maximize the mutual benefits of policy and regulatory cooperation.
The dialogue aims at exchanging enforcement experience on how to ensure that consumers are treated fairly, with a focus on digital markets, claims about environmental sustainability and issues related to the protection of particular consumer groups, such as children. Insights and experience will be shared also in relation to new ways that consumer protection authorities can address new challenges together and support domestic efforts.