Championing Consumer Interests: The Dynamic Endeavors of Consumers International

Every time you buy a product online, sign up for a financial service, or pick food off a supermarket shelf, there are forces working behind the scenes to make sure you’re treated fairly. One of the most significant of these forces is Consumers International (CI) – a global federation of consumer organizations that has been fighting for consumer rights since 1960. With over 250 member organizations spread across 120 countries, CI is not just an advocacy group – it is the world’s foremost platform for amplifying the consumer voice at the highest levels of global decision-making. Understanding CI’s activities is essential for any student of consumer law, especially in India, where consumer protection has gained significant legal and institutional momentum.

The foundation: what Consumers International stands for 🔗

CI was founded in 1960 as the International Organisation of Consumers Unions (IOCU) and later rebranded as Consumers International. Its core mission is straightforward: ensure that consumers everywhere are treated safely, fairly, and honestly in the marketplace. CI defends eight fundamental consumer rights, including the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to be heard, the right to redress, the right to consumer education, the right to a healthy environment, and the right to satisfaction of basic needs.

These rights form the bedrock of its global campaigns and policy work. CI operates independently, without influence from commercial enterprises or political parties. It is represented in influential international bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, giving it a direct seat at the table where global consumer standards are shaped.

Shaping global policy and international standards 🔗

One of CI’s most consequential achievements has been its sustained engagement with the United Nations on consumer protection law. After a decade-long campaign, CI succeeded in getting the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1985. These guidelines provided a global framework for national consumer protection legislation – and many countries, including India, shaped their own laws drawing on these principles.

The work didn’t stop there. In 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a comprehensively revised version of these guidelines, which incorporated more than 90% of CI’s original recommendations. The revised guidelines formally recognized access to basic goods and services as a legitimate consumer need and extended protections to vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers – a significant step for developing nations.

Beyond the UN, CI works through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In 2016, CI proposed and drafted the first international standard on energy services (ISO 50007) – a historic moment as it was the first ISO standard ever initiated by a consumer organization. CI has similarly influenced standards in areas like water and sanitation and mobile banking, extending consumer protections into essential services.

Key activity areas of Consumers International 🔗

Digital rights and consumer protection online 🔗

The digital economy has created new and complex risks for consumers – from data exploitation to online scams and algorithmic pricing. CI has made digital rights a central priority. Its work spans data governance, e-commerce, digital public infrastructure, and financial technology. Only 59% of countries have laws covering online consumer protection, which means billions of consumers remain vulnerable in digital spaces.

To address this, CI launched the Consumer Coalition to Stop Scams, which unites member organizations, businesses, regulators, and consumer protection experts to improve detection, prevention, and victim support across jurisdictions. CI also advocates for consumer-friendly approaches to Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) – the digital systems governments use to deliver public services – ensuring that such systems are inclusive and rights-respecting. A key output here was CI’s T20 Policy Brief, which influenced global discussions on digital inclusion and consumer rights at the G20 level.

Fair finance and financial consumer protection 🔗

Financial services are one of the most significant areas of consumer vulnerability, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where digital finance is expanding rapidly but regulatory frameworks lag behind. CI has been at the forefront of pushing for international financial consumer protection standards.

CI successfully campaigned for the G20 to develop international principles on financial consumer protection and to formalize FinCoNet – the international network of regulators dedicated to financial consumer protection. These high-level principles were first adopted by G20 ministers in 2011 and updated in 2022, setting global benchmarks for how financial institutions must treat consumers.

CI also launched the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator, bringing together 40 consumer associations across low and middle-income countries – including India – to share knowledge and engage with policymakers. The goal is to ensure consumer needs are at the heart of financial regulation, especially as digital payment platforms, lending apps, and fintech services proliferate. The Accelerator’s training programme reached participants from Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, India, Kenya, Mexico, and several other countries.

Food safety and the right to good food 🔗

Food safety is another critical domain of CI’s work. CI co-founded the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in 1979, which campaigned against aggressive and deceptive marketing of infant formula products. This resulted in the World Health Organization adopting the International Code of Marketing on Breast Milk Substitutes – the first international code designed to curtail widespread marketing abuses by baby food companies.

More recently, CI launched a major food affordability initiative in Africa in 2023, addressing the widespread unavailability of healthy, sustainable, and locally produced foods. The project reached over 30 million people, united consumer associations and policymakers in over 20 African countries, developed the Fair Food Price Monitor, and triggered regulatory responses in Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia. CI’s engagement with the Codex Alimentarius Commission – the global food standards body – further ensures that food safety standards reflect consumer interests rather than just industry preferences.

Consumer justice 🔗

Consumer justice, as CI defines it, addresses the structural imbalances that exist between companies and individual consumers. Unfair contract terms, companies avoiding product liability, and limited access to redress mechanisms are persistent problems across markets. CI’s work on consumer justice calls for coordinated strategies across nations and intergovernmental bodies to build fair, resilient, and sustainable economies.

CI also investigated discriminatory pricing practices in the digital economy. A notable example was its investigation into personalised pricing on dating apps, which revealed that some users of Tinder Plus were being charged significantly more for the same service based on their age or device. This kind of consumer investigation directly informs policy advocacy and helps build the evidentiary case for stronger regulatory intervention.

World Consumer Rights Day: CI’s flagship annual campaign 🔗

Every year on 15 March, the global consumer movement comes together to mark World Consumer Rights Day. This tradition traces back to CI – specifically to consumer rights activist Anwar Fazal, who worked for CI and proposed the date in recognition of President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 Consumer Bill of Rights address. The first World Consumer Rights Day was observed on 15 March 1983.

Today, CI coordinates this annual campaign with its 200-plus member organizations, international institutions, governments, businesses, and civil society. Each year focuses on a pressing consumer challenge. Recent themes have addressed fair and responsible AI, clean energy transitions, fair digital finance, and plastic pollution. For 2026, the theme is “Safe Products, Confident Consumers,” underscoring the global urgency around product safety in a digital marketplace where unsafe goods can reach consumers faster than ever before.

Sustainable consumption and the Green Action Fund 🔗

Recognizing that consumer choices have environmental consequences, CI runs the Green Action Fund – an annual grant scheme supporting member organizations in developing countries to carry out campaigns promoting sustainable consumption. The Fund is tied to Green Action Week, which showcases how consumer advocacy can advance the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 (responsible consumption and production).

Green Action Week 2025 united communities in 24 countries, reaching 6.7 million people with practical solutions on food, waste, plastics, and youth action. CI also developed the GreEnCommerce project, which examines the gap between consumers’ stated environmental intentions and their actual buying behavior, and identifies what policy and business interventions are needed to close that gap.

Measuring progress: the Consumer Protection and Empowerment Index 🔗

In 2022, CI introduced one of its most innovative tools – the Consumer Protection and Empowerment Index. Based on five core areas and 100 indicators, the Index provides a global assessment of consumer protection and empowerment measures across 80 countries. Its initial findings were sobering: the average global score was just 53 out of 100, indicating that consumer protection frameworks remain weak in most parts of the world.

CI has shared this data with global leaders at forums including the World Economic Forum at Davos and UNCTAD’s Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on consumer protection. For Indian students of consumer law, this Index is particularly relevant – it helps identify where India stands globally in terms of legislative frameworks, enforcement capacity, and consumer access to redress.

CI’s relevance for Indian consumers and law students 🔗

India’s Consumer Protection Act, 2019 – with its provisions for e-commerce regulation, product liability, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) – reflects many of the global principles that CI has long championed. India is part of CI’s membership network, and Indian consumer organizations have participated in CI-led initiatives such as the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator. As India’s digital economy grows rapidly and consumer disputes increasingly involve e-commerce platforms, fintech companies, and cross-border transactions, the work CI does on digital rights, financial consumer protection, and international policy standards becomes directly relevant to the Indian legal landscape.

Understanding CI’s activities is not just academic – it equips law students with the vocabulary, frameworks, and global context to engage with consumer protection at the level it demands today.

What do you think? Given that CI’s Consumer Protection and Empowerment Index shows the global average score is just 53 out of 100, where do you think India’s biggest gaps in consumer protection lie – enforcement, legislation, or consumer awareness? And as digital financial services expand rapidly in India, how well do you think existing consumer laws are equipped to handle the new forms of exploitation that CI’s investigations have uncovered?

References

1. https://www.consumersinternational.org/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_International
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Consumers-International
4. https://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/consumer-policy-and-standards/global-policy-cooperation/un-guidelines-for-consumer-protection/
5. https://www.consumersinternational.org/who-we-are/our-impact/
6. https://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/digital-rights/
7. https://www.consumersinternational.org/news-resources/news/releases/consumer-advocacy-in-the-year-so-far
8. https://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/consumer-protection/consumer-justice
9. https://www.consumersinternational.org/who-we-are/consumer-rights/
10. https://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/sustainable-consumption/green-action-fund/
11. https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/