A coalition of 13 governments yesterday launched econsumer.gov, an
information exchange site that hopes to respond to the threat of
cross-border internet fraud and to enhance consumer protection and
consumer confidence in e-commerce.
The US Federal Trade Commission, as President of the
International Marketing Supervision Network ("IMSN") is leading the
venture. The other countries involved are the UK, Australia,
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway,
South Korea Sweden and Switzerland.
The project has two components: a multilingual public web site
and a government, password-protected web site. The public site is
expected to provide general information about consumer protection
in all IMSN countries, contact information for consumer protection
authorities in those countries, and an on-line complaint form. At
present, the site offers only contains links to the sites of
relevant agencies in each country and these sites are not yet
multilingual.
A database of consumer complaint data and other investigatory
information will be operated by the FTC. The incoming complaints
will be shared through the government web site with participating
consumer protection law enforcers that have signed a
confidentiality agreement.
See: www.econsumer.gov.
