World Consumer Rights Day
Date: 15 March
World Consumer Rights Day is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement. But more importantly it is a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are respected and protected, and for protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them.
World Consumer Rights Day has its origins in former US President John F. Kennedy's declaration of four basic consumer rights:
- the right to safety
- the right to be informed
- the right to choose
- the right to be heard
To these, the consumer movement through Consumers International has in recent years added four more rights:
- the right to satisfaction of basic needs
- the right to redress
- the right to education
- the right to a healthy environment
Together these eight rights form the basis for ongoing work by Consumers International and consumer groups worldwide.
The Guidelines embrace the principles of the eight consumer rights and provide a framework for strengthening national consumer protection polices.
With the UN's adoption of the Guidelines, consumer rights were finally elevated to a position of international recognition and legitimacy, acknowledged by developed and developing countries alike. Yet they can continue to be ignored or trivialised by governments, producers and powerful interests. World Consumer Right Day draws attention to such violations, and provides a platform for consumer groups to address them in the countries where they operate.
How is World Consumer Rights Day Observed?
World Consumer Rights Day depends on local initiatives, planned and carried out by consumer organisations on every continent. Initiatives can take the shape of special campaigns, press conferences, public exhibitions, workshops, street events or new publications, to name only a few possibilities.
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