Consumer Protection: Organizations

International Consumer Groups

  • European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardization (ANEC)
    ANEC, with more than 150 consumer experts and many consumer representatives attending the work of European standards committees, is the voice of the European consumers in standardisation.
  • The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)
    BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation, is the Brussels-based federation of independent national consumer organisations from all the Member States of the EU and from other European countries.
  • The European Law Group (ECLG)
    ECLG is a group of lawyers and law scholars from or connected with consumer organisations in Europe. The Group meets every six months on average and the costs of these meetings are covered by the European Commission. It publishes reports and opinions on specific topics deemed to be both most relevant for consumer protection and common to all EU-countries.
  • Consumers International (CI)
    CI is a federation of consumer organisations dedicated to the protection and promotion of consumers’ interests worldwide. CI operates through its head office in London and regional offices in Malaysia, Chile and Zimbabwe.
  • Public Interest Advocacy Center
    PIAC is a Canadian non-profit federally incorporated organisation. Founded in Ottawa in 1976, PIAC has been especially vigilant in compelling government and private corporations to administer programs or to conduct business in accordance with fairness and due process.
  • Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD)
    TACD is a forum of US and EU consumer organisations which develops and promulgates joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making.
  • North American Consumer Project on Electronic Commerce (NACPEC)
    NACPEC works to increase awareness of policy issues affecting consumers on the Internet, as well as to provide national and international policy-makers with the information and understanding they need to make decisions that protect consumers.

US Consumer Groups

  • Center for Digital Democracy (CDD)
    CDD promotes openness and diversity of the Internet in the broadband era, and to realizing the full potential of digital communications through the development and encouragement of noncommercial, public interest programming.
  • Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
    Founded in 1968, CFA is an advocacy organization, working to advance pro-consumer policy on a variety of issues before Congress, the White House, federal and state regulatory agencies, and the courts.
  • Consumer Project on Technology
    The Consumer Project on Technology works on intellectual property rights and health care, electronic commerce and competition policy.
  • Consumers Union
    Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is an independent, nonprofit testing and information organization serving only consumers.
  • National Consumers League
    The National Consumers League was formed in 1899 to promote the welfare of those consumers, wage earners, and income recipients least able to protect themselves.
  • Public Citizen
    Founded in 1971, Public Citizen fights for safer drugs and medical devices, cleaner and safer energy sources, a cleaner environment, fair trade, and a more open and democratic government through public awareness campaigns, legislative activism and lawsuits.
  • U.S. Public Interest Research Group
    The State PIRGs created the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) in 1983 to act as watchdog for the public interest in the nation’s capital.

National Agencies