OECD Guidelines for Protecting Consumers from Fraudulent and Deceptive Commercial Practices Across Borders

Backgrounder

November 21 , 2003

---

The OECD and Committee on Consumer Policy

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) groups 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. Members include Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, Mexico and Finland, to name a few. The OECD produces internationally agreed instruments, decisions and recommendations to promote rules of the game in areas where multilateral agreement is necessary for individual countries to make progress in a globalized economy. For further information, please visit the OECD's Web site.

The CCP or Committee on Consumer Policy's mandate is, among other things, to examine questions relating to consumer policy and law in Member countries and within international and regional organizations. The CCP also contributes to the further development and strengthening of co-operation between Member countries in policy development and law enforcement. The current chair of the CCP is Mr. Mozelle Thompson of the United States. For Canada, the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) leads our participation with Michael Jenkin, Director General of OCA as one of the vice-chairs on the committee. As a law enforcement agency in Canada, the Competition Bureau also participates on this committee.

The Guidelines

The OECD's Working Group on Cross-Border Remedies initially drafted the recommendation for guidelines in order to address challenges outlined in its 2001 report. Among other things, its study found that "there is a lack of uniformity in national enforcement regimes and associated regimes".

The Guidelines were further developed through the efforts of the entire Committee on Consumer Policy. The Committee developed the document both by a written comment process and by having substantial discussions at its 63^rd, 64^th and 65^th sessions. Members of the Committee agreed to the last draft at the 65th session which was held in early April 2003. The Guidelines were then submitted to the OECD Council for approval. The Council approved the Guidelines on June 12^th, 2003.

The Guidelines set out broad principles as well as more specific provisions to enhance international co-operation. The principle guidelines recommend that member countries work to develop a framework for closer, faster, and more efficient co-operation amongst their consumer protection enforcement agencies that includes, where appropriate:

• establishing a domestic system for combatting cross-border fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices against consumers;
• enhancing notification, information sharing, and investigative assistance;
• improving the ability to protect foreign consumers from domestic businesses engaged in fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices;
• considering how to ensure effective redress for victimized consumers, and;
• co-operating with relevant private-sector entities.

Canadian Impact

These Guidelines are particularly important to the Competition Bureau and our provincial and territorial colleagues as we continue to work hard to ensure Canada is not branded as a safe haven for scam artists. The broad principles outlined in the Guidelines, combined with the specific recommendations regarding enhanced notification, information sharing and investigative assistance provide the framework to enable us to further develop existing partnerships as well as create new ones in our fight against cross-border fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices.

In Canada, the Guidelines will be implemented with the assistance of the Office of Consumer Affairs in conjunction with our provincial and territorial counterparts. We will begin by reviewing our current domestic partnerships to ensure harmonization of our approaches to cross-border matters. We will also review our notification procedures and strive to share more information with countries around the world as well as provide increased investigative assistance with the use of tools such as search and seizure and wiretap. Lastly, we will endeavour to develop further co-operation with Canadian private sector entities which can assist in cross-border matters.

It is clear that international co-operation has become a necessity for successful law enforcement and we are pleased to see OECD members embrace the Guidelines. Their implementation will ensure global success against international fraud operators - and global success is truly the only type of success to strive for in cross-border matters.