15 March 2017: World Consumer Rights Day

World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is an awareness day observed annually on 15 March. The WCRD was first celebrated in 1983 and became an important annual occasion for mobilizing citizen action and solidarity within the international consumer movement. The day is an opportunity for promoting the basic rights of all consumers.

The day takes place on 15 March to mark the definition of consumer rights, outlined by US President John F. Kennedy. He was the first world leader to set out a vision of consumer rights recognizing the importance of consumers as a group. Kennedy gave the American consumer four basic rights: 1) the right to safety, 2) the right to choose, 2) the right to information and, 4) the right to be heard.

The day is organized by Consumers International (CI), which is the world federation of consumer groups that serves as the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers. Founded in 1960, CI currently has over 220 member organizations in 115 countries around the world.

Each year the CI Council selects a theme for the following World Consumer Rights Day activities, for example: “Our money, our rights” in 2010, “Consumers and water” in 2004 or “Unethical Drug Promotion” in 2007.

The 2017 theme for World Consumer Rights Day is ‘Building a Digital World Consumers can Trust.’

Digital technology is having a dramatic impact on consumers around the world, creating many new benefits including better communication, access to information and greater choice and convenience. While consumers benefit from these technologies, there are questions about how to establish access to the internet for the many consumers who are not connected; how to improve the quality of services; which online services and products consumers can trust; and what happens to the data they share online.

To address these issues and promote access, participation and innovation in digital technology CI is working to create a #BetterDigitalWorld.

Consumers International will also be partnering with the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) and the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) to tackle the vital and current issue of building better consumer rights in the digital world.

As part of the partnership CI, BMJV and VZBV will co-host a G20 consumer summit on 15 March 2017 in Berlin, Germany.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).