Eleventh International Consumer Protection Forum, COMPAL Programme

Paraguay and UNCTAD host the eleventh edition of the most important public forum on consumer protection issues in Latin America on the issue of Promoting sustainable consumption to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The eleventh edition of the International Consumer Protection Forum will be held online and in Spanish on 26 April 2022 from 3 to 4.30 p.m. CEST (Geneva time) under the title: Promoting sustainable consumption to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals establish the programme of work for the international community for the near future. Its realization depends on the empowerment of consumers to fully exercise their power for change. This edition of the COMPAL Forum will bring together the experiences of the main stakeholders in consumer protection, including governments, international organizations and the private and associative sectors, with respect to the promotion of sustainable consumption. 

As recommended by the United Nations Guidelines for consumer protection, these actions deal with consumer education and guidance to companies, as well as related cases, for example, environmental claims.

Since 2011, UNCTAD's COMPAL Programme has been hosting the annual International Consumer Protection Forum, which has grown to be the major public forum on consumer protection issues in Latin America. It aims to provide a space for policy makers and other relevant stakeholders such as businesses, consumer associations, academia, practitioners and the public at large to exchange views on current and future challenges and trends to the welfare of consumers.

Past editions were hosted in Guayaquil, Lima, Santo Domingo, Bogotá, Cuzco, Guanacaste, Mendoza, Guadalajara, San José and Lisbon (online). Since 2017, the Forum is held jointly with the country that holds the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Ibero-American Forum of Government Consumer Protection Agencies, currently Paraguay.