Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Importance of Consumer Protection in the G-20 Agenda

‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ is an excellent mantra that could pave a way for global welfare, but yet the agenda misses the critical component for achieving global welfare - consumer welfare. Consumers are the raison d’etre of all economic activity. Without increased and improved consumer protection, it is hard to see how the G-20 agenda can be achieved in toto. This missing link has to be addressed.

India’s goal for the G-20 meeting this year is to find pragmatic global solutions for the well-being of all, and to make globalisation work. World leaders are now discussing how to achieve sustainable growth by addressing both the economic and developmental priorities and the contemporary global challenges including climate change, poverty, global debt and recession. Green development, promotion of climate finance, technological transformation, promotion of multilateral institutions and digital public infrastructure, as well as women-led development are the priority areas for this summit.

G-20’s Tryst with Consumer Protection

In 1999, when the G-20 was established as a forum for finance ministers and central bank governors of 20 major economies to discuss global economic issues, it never granted any focus or importance to consumer protection. Indeed, in those early years, the G-20 focused primarily on financial and macroeconomic issues such as financial market regulation, fiscal policies, and international monetary cooperation.

But with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, consumer protection slowly became an important issue for the G-20. It began to recognise the importance of protecting consumers from fraudulent and unfair business practices to promote sustainable economic growth and development. Subsequent G-20 summits therefore began to address consumer protection policies, and took a number of initiatives to advance consumer protection.

In 2011, the G-20 summit hosted by the French government highlighted the importance of keeping consumers at the heart of the G20's work. During the summit, the G-20 leaders adopted the High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection, which had earlier been endorsed at the Seoul Summit. The leaders also endorsed the G-20/OECD High-Level Principles on Consumer Protection in the Digital Economy, which aim to ensure that consumers are adequately protected in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace. In addition, the summit resulted in the establishment of the G-20 Consumer Protection Working Group, which was tasked with promoting greater cooperation and information sharing among G-20 member countries on consumer issues.

At the next summit in 2013, the G-20 established a Consumer Protection Task Force to promote international cooperation in the area of consumer protection. It helped improve information sharing, promote best practices, and strengthen consumer protection policies and enforcement mechanisms. Since its establishment, the task force has worked on a number of initiatives related to consumer protection, including developing principles for effective consumer dispute resolution and sharing information on consumer protection issues related to e-commerce and the digital economy.

The G-20 has held several discussions pertaining to the interests of consumers since the establishment of the G-20 Consumer Protection Task Force in 2013. Some of the key consumer issues recognised by G-20 since then are mentioned below:

In addition, the G-20 has always encouraged member countries to strengthen consumer protection policies, develop effective enforcement mechanisms, and promote consumer education and awareness.

Bring Consumer Protection Back on the Agenda

India must accord priority to consumer protection like in the previous years of the Summit. In today's interconnected world, giving priority to consumer protection can help promote sustainable economic growth, ensure fair competition, prevent crises, and address global issues that affect consumers everywhere. This in return can contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of a more just and equitable global economy.

Bringing consumer protection onto the G-20 table would be beneficial not just for India but also for the coming presidency of Brazil and South Africa due to their significant role in global trade and commerce. By promoting fair trade practices, ensuring product safety, encouraging sustainable consumption, and encouraging innovation, all the three nations can help create a more equitable and sustainable global economy that benefits everyone.

Today without addressing consumer protection, the G-20 agenda is not au fait with the developments on the consumer protection scene of IBSA and Global South. If G-20 leaders are serious about sustainable economic growth and want to foster trust and transparency in the global marketplace, then addressing it is an imperative.

Secretary General of CUTS International. Simi T. B. of CUTS contributed.