World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated annually worldwide on March 15 and is held under the auspices of the United Nations. The date was first celebrated in 1983.
On this day in 1962, 35th President of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy made a historic speech in the US Congress, in which he first defined the concept of “consumer” and singled out its four inalienable rights: the right to information, the right to the safety of goods and services, the right to the choice of goods and services on a competitive basis, the right to be heard.
Established in 1960, an independent non-political non-profit association of consumers around the world the International Organization of Consumer Unions (Consumer International, CI), subsequently in 1985 supplemented the Consumer Code with four more postulates: the right to compensation, the right to consumer education, the right to basic needs and the right to a healthy environment.
On April 9, 1985, the UN General Assembly adopted the Guidelines for the Protection of Consumer Interests.
With the adoption of these principles, consumer rights have gained international recognition and legitimacy. These provide for the provisions that governments have to be guided in both setting consumer protection policies and legislation. The adoption of the UN resolution contributed to development of international cooperation in this area.
In December 2014, Turkmenistan adopted the Consumer Rights Protection Law.
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