ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection launches Guidelines on Consumer Associations

The new ASEAN Guidelines on Consumer Associations provides practical orientation and good practices to support consumer advocates in ASEAN Member States. It also helps aspire consumer associations in the region to set-up and operationalise.

AKARTA, 12 April 2022 – The ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP) launched the ASEAN Guidelines on Consumer Associations (ASEAN CA Guidelines) to further promote engagement with the ASEAN Consumer Associations Network (ACAN).

The guidelines aim to assist Consumer Associations by providing practical orientation and good practices related to the formation, formalisation, operation, and sustainability of Consumer Associations in ASEAN Member States (AMS).

Building on insights and lessons from ASEAN and other regions, the guidelines set out key principles, considerations, and options to help start, strengthen and sustain both existing and aspiring consumer movements in ASEAN. 

In consultation with the ACAN, the guidelines include topics to explain the main roles and services of Consumer Associations, how to enable, set up, run, sustain and cooperate Consumer Associations, regionally and internationally.

Further, the guidelines may also help businesses as well as general consumers understand the role of Consumer Associations in consumer disputes.  It is also hoped that the publication of the guidelines would initiate further internal exchanges among core ACAN members, and regular consultations with the ACCP for peer learning and policy advocacy in relation to consumer protection. This could include devising an agenda with priorities to be addressed, for example in coordinated consumer campaigns across AMS. 

The development of the ASEAN CA Guidelines is part of the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on Consumer Protection 2025.  The role of Consumer Associations in ASEAN remains to be an integral part in providing consumers with skills, knowledge, information, and confidence to exercise their rights, as mentioned in Principle 2 of the ASEAN High Level Principle on Consumer Protection.

These Guidelines was prepared with support by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, through the “Consumer Protection in ASEAN” (PROTECT) project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany.  

Visit the ACCP Website (www.aseanconsumer.org) for more information.