World Consumer Rights Day

Today, March 15 is World Consumer Rights Day. The celebration of World Consumer Rights Day is an annual opportunity to focus on and solidify the national and international consumer movement. At this time special efforts are undertaken to promote the basic rights of all consumers and to demand that those rights are respected and protected. The day also presents an opportunity to highlight and protest market place abuses which threaten to undermine consumer rights.

The occasion was first observed on March 15, 1983 and has since become an important occasion for mobilising citizen action. The United Nations' General Assembly adopted the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection two years later. These guidelines embrace the principles of the eight consumer rights and provide a framework for strengthening national consumer protection policies.

The theme adopted for World Consumer Rights Day 2007 is Unethical Drug Promotion and Use, calling on national governments to put an end to unscrupulous marketing practices by the pharmaceutical industry. Visit here Consumers.International.org