Ministerial Meeting of the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy

[Talking points for Opening session]

Question 1:  How has the consumer experience changed in recent years due to digitalisation? How do the benefits compare to the ongoing harms and challenges and how is this evolving?

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me first thank the organizers for inviting me to this panel.

As has been mentioned by my fellow panellists, the rapid pace of digitalization has transformed the global marketplace, creating an ocean of new opportunities. The digital economy has reshaped how consumers access goods, services, and information. Digital platforms have enabled unprecedented convenience, efficiency, and variety. Consumers today can shop across borders, access a wider range of products, compare prices instantly, and engage directly with businesses and peers to review experiences.

But there is an important BUT. The ocean of opportunities exists only for consumers who can participate in the digital economy. In 2023, only 67 per cent of the world’s population, or 5.4 billion people, were online. In least developed countries, it was only about 35 per cent of their population. And an important gender digital divide persists with about 65 percent of of women compared to 70 per cent of men using the internet.

In addition, consumers who have internet access may still not have the skills, the infrastructure, or the financial resources necessary to fully engage with and benefit from the digital economy. This calls for holistic approaches of digital policy.

Another key challenge we see is the vulnerability linked to the complexities of online consumption. The challenges are vast from unclear data protection and privacy policies to dark commercial practices and unsafe products sold online.

This requires consumers to be alert and continually adapt. It shows the need for targeted information and education campaigns. Such campaigns should particularly address the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups including children, the elderly, people with disabilities, rural or low-income populations.

Moreover, the immediacy – only one click away - and global scope of the digital economy are reshaping consumer policy. Ensuring consumer health and safety now requires engaging businesses beyond national jurisdictions. Online shoppers expect quick, effective dispute resolution, often through online, cross-border mechanisms. While this calls for stronger international cooperation, UNCTAD’s World Consumer Protection Map shows that only 35 of the responding countries, mainly developed countries, have experience in cross-border cooperation in enforcement.

The good news is that we have a solid basis on which we can build international cooperation: The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection. These are the only global instrument on this issue. The guidelines were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985 and are relevant to all 193 UN member States. They have been widely implemented. We – UN Trade and Development – are the guardian of these guidelines. They are also a testament of the close relationship between the UN and the OECD, as various OECD recommendations on dispute resolution, e-commerce, on cross-border cooperation are expressively referenced therein.

My final point on this question is that for us the focus is on consumers in developing countries and ensuring that they can participate in the changing global marketplace and at the same time are protected and safe.  

Question 2: How can consumer policy address these challenges while safeguarding the benefits of digital markets? And what intersections should be strengthened vis-à-vis other policy areas – such as competition, data protection and digital technology policy – to develop whole-of-government, multidisciplinary approaches?

Thank you. As the focal point in the United Nations for trade and development and the interrelated issues of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development—UN Trade and Development is fully committed to multidisciplinary approaches. This applies also to guidance on consumer policies. I want to highlight two key intersections.

The first is consumer policy and competition policy. Competition – or the lack thereof - is an issue in digital markets. The benefits of global data flows are unevenly distributed. The largest digital platforms control most stages of the data value chain—from collection and transmission to storage and analysis. Over 70 per cent of global digital advertising revenue is captured by just five platforms. This market concentration raises concerns about openness, fairness, and potential abuses, including exclusivity, discriminatory, and self-preferencing practices.

Consumer policies must work in tandem with competition policies to address these imbalances. By promoting fair competition, we can prevent monopolistic practices and ensure that consumers benefit from innovation and lower costs. For example, ensuring transparency in algorithms and preventing anti-competitive mergers in the digital sector can protect consumer interests and foster healthy competition. In the digital context, cooperation at national level between consumer protection and competition law enforcement is ever more important.

Maximizing synergies between consumer protection and competition is also a central theme at our upcoming Ministerial Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection in Geneva next July.

The second and growing intersection is between consumer policy and environmental policy.

Digitalization brings significant environmental challenges. Data centers and blockchain operations consume enormous amounts of energy. For example, data centres in Ireland accounted for around 18 per cent of the country’s electricity demand in 2022.

Digital devices and infrastructure depend on minerals, metals, plastics, glass, and ceramics. The production, utilization and disposal of these devices contribute to waste, pollution, carbon emissions, and are high in water use. CO₂ emissions of the ICT sector accounted for up to 3.2 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. Waste from screens and small IT equipment increased by 30% from 2010 to 2022, reaching 10.5 million tons. Improper disposal leads to serious environmental and health hazards, raising concerns within product safety frameworks.

Our 2024 Digital Economy Report underscored the urgent need for environmentally sustainable and inclusive digitalization strategies. Consumer policy should align with environmental goals to promote sustainable consumption and a circular digital economy. For example, clearer labeling of environmental impacts and supporting circular economy initiatives like repair and recycling can help mainstream consumer and environmental objectives.

Finally, another policy that is impactful for consumers and whose interaction is still to be fully explored, is trade policy. Consumers can benefit from deepening trade ties among countries, but trade gains will only be realized if consumers’ safety and interests are enhanced and protected. Consumer policy is thus an enabler of trade policy.

UNCTAD provides the largest platform to exchange on the interaction between consumer policy and other policies, among its 195 member States. It also provides a forum where decisions can be formally adopted, thanks to its delegated mandate from the United Nations General Assembly.