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EEC develops cooperation with EAEU regional consumer association
Promising areas of cooperation, as well as relevant matters of developing integration processes in the field of consumer rights protection were discussed at the meeting between Natalia Zhukova, Director of the EEC Department for Sanitary, Phytosanitary and Veterinary Measures, and the founders of the Eurasian Consumer Union.
"Creating conditions for the activities of consumer public associations in the largest region of the world is one of the key directions of the coordinated policy of consumer rights protection enshrined in the Treaty on the EAEU," Natalia Zhukova noted. "Public organizations provide substantial assistance to public authorities in the legal protection of citizens, and help in solving many consumer problems, which is especially important during economic transformations".
Svetlana Romanovskaya, Head of the Eurasian Consumer Union, informed that this organization was established in Kazakhstan to protect the interests of citizens and assist in settling transboundary consumer disputes in the Union's single market. It united more than 200 consumer public organizations of the EAEU and CIS countries.
The founders of the Eurasian Consumer Union are the Belarusian Society of Consumers Protection, the National League of Consumers of Kazakhstan, the Consumers Union of the Russian Federation and the International Confederation of Consumer Societies.
As Natalia Zhukova reported, the conducted research made it possible to assess the development of consumer public associations and identify problems to be addressed by the Commission's recommendations for the Union countries. Creating the Eurasian Consumer Association is the best example of practical application of the Commission's recommendations, which will enable to consolidate the efforts of society under a single banner and offer citizens new opportunities to assert their rights in the Union's market.
The meeting attendees exchanged views on the prospects of interaction within the Joint Action Program of the EAEU Member States in the field of consumer rights protection.
The meeting noted the importance of strengthening interaction in terms of conducting a study on forming mechanisms to consider the interests of consumers in the Union's law.
Following the events, the participants agreed to intensify work on deepening cooperation in all areas related to consumer rights protection in the EAEU, including in the context of the tasks of further development of economic processes within the EAEU until 2030 and for the period until 2045, envisaged in the Declaration "The Eurasian Economic Path".
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Eurasian Consumer Union – Anna Susha, Chairman of the Belarusian Society of Consumers Protection, Svetlana Romanovskaya, Chairman of the National League of Consumers of Kazakhstan, Petr Shelishch, Chairman of the Consumers Union of the Russian Federation, and Dmitry Yanin, Chairman of the Board of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies.
About 1.3 thousand consumer public associations are registered and operating in the EAEU, 95% of which are located in the Russian Federation. Along with that, given the total population of the Union countries, there are about 140 ths consumers per 1 consumer public organization.
