Consumers are always right. As long as they know their rights

ON JULY 25, 2023, THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OF THE UNITED NATIONS GRANTED A SPECIAL CONSULTATIVE STATUS TO A MEMBER OF THE BELARUSIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY – THE PUBLIC ASSOCIATION "REGIONAL CONSUMER PROTECTION SOCIETY".

The public association "Regional Consumer Protection Society" was established in 2017 on the initiative of lawyers Dmitry Malets and Yevgeny Shiroky. For a relatively short period of its existence, the association has gone from being a small organization to a professional community, carrying out significant work to protect the rights and legitimate interests of Belarusian consumers of goods, works and services. 

The activities of the organization are aimed at providing legal assistance, representing the interests of consumers in courts, conducting examinations of the quality of goods (works, services), as well as awareness-raising work in the field of consumer protection.

Since 2018, a branch of the Department of International Economic Law of the Belarusian State Economic University has been operating on the basis of the public association, which contributes to the exchange of experience between specialists from the university and the public association, and familiarization of students with practical activities in the field of consumer protection.

Since 2022, the public association, in agreement with the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, has been determined as the base organization for the training of specialists from the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Belarus in the specialty "Public Administration and Law".

   The leadership of the public association is confident that success is impossible without studying and implemen­ting the best world practices.

The public association is studying the experience of the bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the field of consumer protection, including the preparation of model legislative acts in this area. Interaction with the Eurasian Economic Commission Board has been ensured, and since 2021, Dmitry Malets, Chairman of the Regional Consumer Protection Society Board, has been included in the Advisory Committee of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States on Consumer Rights Protection.

Obtaining consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (UN ECOSOC) isanother step in this direction. Consultative status is an "entry point" into the United Nations system, a formal relationship with the UN.

Public associations with this status have the opportunity to interact with the UN ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies in the areas of their activities, can participate in many events, including regular sessions of ECOSOC, its functional commissions and its other subsidiary bodies.

The consultative status of the Regional Consumer Protection Society under the UN ECOSOC is a testimony of the international recognition of the country's experience in developing consumer protection institutions, an opportunity to exchange experience with world organizations, promote the best Belarusian practices and tools to protect the legitimate interests of consumers.