Advisory Committee on Consumer Rights Protection of the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union
About the 1st session of Advisory Committee
on the protection of consumer rights in the Member States
of the Eurasian Economic Union
On December 9, 2016 the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) held the first session of Advisory Committee on the protection of consumer rights in the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union. The members of Advisory Committee, representatives of EEC, authorised authorities of the Member States, public organisations and business community were among the participants of this session.
In his opening speech addressed to the participants the Member of the Board - Minister in charge of technical regulation of the EEC Valery Koreshkov outlined the current issues in the consumer rights protection and described the most critical vectors in developing the single approach to the coordinated policy of the Member States in the field of consumer rights protection.
Coordinated policy in the field of consumer rights protection within the Eurasian Economic Union is achieved by aligning the consumer rights regulations applicable in the Member States and by taking measures to prevent the mala fide organisations and businesses from any operations in the market, as well as to prevent low quality goods (services) from being marketed in the territory of the Member States. Coordinated policy in the field of consumer rights protection also includes providing conditions for the consumers to allow free choice of goods (works, services), supplying consumers with up-to-date and true information about goods (works, services) and manufacturers (sellers, contractors).
The Minister informed the participants of the Advisory Committee of the fact that some consumer rights aspects are stipulated in the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union; he also said that the Advisory Committee was established at the Board of the Commission in order to exercise the EAEU powers in arranging cooperation of the Member States in the field of consumer rights protection.
During the session the following participants shared their experience in consumer rights protection: I.V. Bragina, Deputy Chief of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (ROSPOTREBNADZOR) O.V. Prusakov, Head of Department of Consumer Rights Protection of Rospotrebnadzor A.D. Azimkhanuly, Chief of Consumer Rights Directorate at the Consumer Rights Committee of the Ministry of national economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of the EEC structural subdivisions.
The participants of the session expressed consolidated opinion about importance and promptitude of establishing the Advisory Committee. They also thought it was necessary to develop efficient tools to achieve coordinated policy in consumer rights protection by preparing recommendations for various industries based on the advanced practices in the related field and using the legislation of the Member States.
During the session of the Advisory Committee the most critical vectors in developing the uniform approach to the coordinated policy of the member states in the field of consumer rights protection were determined (e-commerce, international air transportation, tourist services, financial services); the following agreements were achieved:
- it is necessary to develop the plan of the first-priority steps in the consumer rights protection for 2017 (the deadline for preparation of the plan was defined);
- it is necessary to use the Consumer Rights Protection Guidelines adopted by the Resolution of UN General Assembly on December 22, 2015 when developing the EEC recommendation in consumer rights protection
- it is practically useful to establish a work group affiliated with the Advisory Committee to be in charge of preparing the draft recommendations in the field of consumer rights protection for the Member States;
