InfoCons - Organisation for Consumer Protection, full member of the Consumers International, having the General Secretariat in Bucharest, Mărășești Bd., No. 127-129,, District 4, tel.: +40-11-319.32.66; fax: +40-31-101.25.15, is a non-governmental, representative and independent organisation, that protects consumer rights, of private law, without a lucrative purpose, with distinct and indivisible patrimony, based on democratic principles.
InfoCons has been founded in 2003 to comply with consumer needs in Romania. Since then it carries on an uninterrupted activity and it gained national and international recognition, becoming member of different organisations, consultative commissions of state’s authorities, working groups and partner in national and international programs. Among InfoCons activities, we mention:
- Setting up Consumer Information and Consultancy Centres in all counties and carrying on continuous activities in the area of consumer education and information
- Active involvement in the fight against counterfeiting
- Founding Member of the first Federation of Consumer Protection organisations from Romania
- Accreditation at the Romanian Parliament - Chamber of Deputies for the works of the Specialized Boards
- Setting up the first master course in the area of consumer protection in cooperation with Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance from Bucharest University
- Initiation of the introduction of consumers’ protection classes in schools
- Development of several campaigns of education and information in the period of Romania’s accession to the EU; these campaigns were carried on by broadcasting clips on most national televisions and radios, by dissemination of written materials and by organizing events at national, regional and zonal level
- Gathering national and international organisations and institutions under the aegis of the concept “Consumer Protection – A New Attitude”
- Supporting the publication of specialized works
InfoCons’ goals are:
To protect consumer legitimate rights and interests, to raise consumer awareness about their rights and to develop projects and programs to this respect. Typical goals of the programs are: to protect consumers against the risk of buying or using products of an uncertain quality, to inform consumers about products that could be damaging for their health, to encourage consumers to have the right to choose, to solve consumer complaints.
The main attributes of the organisation are:
- To participate, as an advisory part, in elaboration of the national strategies and programs regarding consumer protection;
- To oversee legislation enforcement and to contribute to its updating;
- To support the process of consumer stratification horizontally and vertically in nongovernmental organisations, able to protect and represent their interests;
- To sustain the set up and functioning of local centres of information, consultancy and education for consumers, and to develop its own activities for this purpose;
- To organize an information centre for members of consumer associations;
- To conduct research and studies in consumption and environmental protection in terms of better management of money by eliminating waste;
- To carry out studies, researches and comparative tests.
In order to achieve its goal and mission, the Organisation has developed cooperation and partnership relations with similar Organisations from EU Member States and with other Organisations and Institutions from different areas:
International organisations:
- Consumers International (CI)
- The European Consumer Voice In Standardisation (ANEC)
- International Consumer Research & Testing (ICRT)
- European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN)
- Austrian Institute For Applied Telecommunications (OIAT)
- International Waste Working Group ( IWWG)
- L’Institut National de la Consommation
- EAEA – European Association for Education of Adults
- East Central European Scholarship Program - Georgetown University
- "European Training Centre" Foundation
- Generation Europe Foundation
Working Groups of which InfoCons is taking part:
- Working Group on Intellectual Property Issues in the Prosecutor of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
- Romania's Export Council, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Tourism
- Council granting the EU Ecolabel of the Ministry of Environment and Forests;
- Advisory Council A.N.C.O.M. - National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications
- National Council for Competitiveness - CoNaCo – elaborating the National Strategy for Competitiveness Romania in 2020;
- Working Group On Health Insurance Law
- Member of the Romanian Association for Standardization
We strongly believe that through all its activities InfoCons Romania has brought and will continue to bring an important contribution to increase the level of consumer protection in Romania.Recommended resources
|
