Voices for Change: the Consumer Right to Representation

World Consumer Rights Day 2002: Voices for Change
Promoting the consumer interest can take
many forms. In Voices for Change, we highlight
formal representation before governments and
other public bodies, rather than campaigning
or legal action. A variety of models for formal
representation can be found in Chapter 3. But
as Anne-Lore Köhne, a CI Council member
and director of Germany’s VZBV, notes, sitting
on a committee is only one instrument of
consultation. “Lobbying and participating in
public and private hearings are just as
important. No single tool is the most effective
one – you have to use them all. And even then,
sometimes the key is running into the right
person in the right place, minutes before the
decision takes place in the plenary.”
While Voices for Change focuses on systems and
institutions set up for decision-makers to hear
the consumer voice, many of the case studies
received from members in response to the
questionnaire included stories of legal actions.
The value of legal action should not be
minimised, as it gives teeth to demands for
inclusion by providing access to the courts,
either to stop abuses or to force consideration
of consumer welfare and input. Legal action
can take the form of mandatory public
hearings, class actions suits, bans on
hazardous products, court action against
pricing policies, suits pressed for purposes of
redress and much more. The 1999 World
Consumer Rights Day publication Where Do
We Stand? includes a section on legal action as
a form of representation.
Taking the consumer interest to the private
sector is equally important but does not fall
within the scope of this publication, as it was
the topic of the 2001’s WCRD campaign,
Corporate Citizenship in the Global Market:
Accountability and the Consumer Perspective.
Representation, not Rhetoric
Effective consumer policy relies on
appropriate regulation, consumer
empowerment through education and
information and representation. But true
representation is more than simply involving
consumer experts on panels or public
consultations. It requires permanent channels
for input, the expectation that consumer views
will be taken into account and the recognition
that it is essential to good decision-making.
Voices for Change contains many positive
examples of representation. However,
decision-makers may also try to use
representation as a public relations exercise
where consumers have no power and
consumer interests are ignored. Many of the
case studies in Annex B show how consumer
organisations have dealt with this, as in the
following example from Brazil.
Brazil: Lost the battle, won the war
The Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do
Consumidor (IDEC) played a crucial role
in getting 132 dubious antibiotic mixtures
taken off the market – although it was
expelled from the Technical Advisory
Commission on Medical Affairs for doing so.
The Commission, on which IDEC
represented consumers, was at pains to
keep information about these drugs secret
from consumers, but IDEC went public
with doubts about their efficacy. As a result,
it was thrown off the Commission in 1996.
But in 1997, the federal government turned
around and banned the sale of the drugs
in question.
Real representation is also inclusive. A basic
challenge for those charged with representing
consumers is to constantly be aware of who
they are representing and why. Representation
must be based on research as well as proactive
measures to seek out the views of the people
who would otherwise not be heard. Consumer
representatives must consider this through
consultation and dialogue with their
constituency, as outlined in Chapter 4.
But constituencies are no longer local.
Increasingly, representation needs to encompass
regional and global issues and be aimed at
international institutions. This is now being
recognised by institutions themselves. The
European Union has recently undertaken to
improve consumer representation within its
policy-making. The Cotonou Agreement
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