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An E-Commerce label will be introduced in China to better protect Chinese consumers in E-Commerce. This week work on the project commenced. On the German side the project is conducted by Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz (European University Institute, Florence), Kai Purnhagen (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), Gerald Spindler (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Christian Thorun (ConPolicy). Together with their Chinese colleagues they will develop a proposal for such a label until mid-2012. The project is financed jointly by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

For a couple of years the European Commission increasingly seeks to base its consumer policy on a sound evidence base. In July 2011 the Commission issued a call for a Framework Contract for the provision of behavioural studies. A consortium which is led by London Economics and which comprises also of Nuffield College (University of Oxford), Ipsos MORI and ConPolicy was awarded a framework contract. The objective is to provide studies related to consumer and citizen behaviour by means of behavioural methods in the coming four years.

E-Commerce is growing rapidly in China and Germany. A comparative research project investigated how consumer protection could best be achieved in E-Commerce in both countries. ConPolicy together with other experts was responsible for the analysis of the situation in Germany and the European Union: Malte Krüger (Fachhochschule Aschaffenburg); Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz (European University Institute, Florence); Kai Purnhagen (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich); Gerald Spindler (Georg-August-University Göttingen). The study was financed by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The results of the study are now published with C.H.Beck München/Hart Oxford/Nomos Baden-Baden.

While there exist largely harmonised European standards for rights supporting the economic protection of consumers, in practice these rights are often breached, both nationally and cross-border. On 7 November 2011 the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) organised a Symposium, at which the following questions were discussed: How can consumer law be more extensively and effectively be enforced? How can consumers be strengthened in a market which appears to be becoming more and more complex? ConPolicy-Director Dr Christian Thorun moderated the first session on "Enforcing consumer law effectiely- nationally and cross-border". Participants were: Gerd Billen (Executive Director of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations), Dr Malek Radeideh (Head of Economic Consumer Protection, BVL), Barnadette van Buchem (Director, Dutch Consumer Authority), Fernand Van Gansbeke (Director, Belgian Federal Public Service Economy) und Tamás Molnár (Head of Unit, DG SANCO).

Consumer information, collective redress, surveillance - the Consumer Policy Congress NRW, which took place at the 13th of October in Cologne, investigated how consumer rights could more effectively be enforced. ConPolicy-Director Dr Christian Thorun participated in the forum “More regulation - How much surveillance do markets need”. The forum focused, inter alia, on the question whether measures such as the introduction of an advice protocol or the new product information sheet for financial services were sufficient and adequate means. Dr Thorun engaged in a discussion with Beate Block (Ministry for Consumer Protection NRW), Thorsten Höche (Association of German Banks), Dr Annabel Oelmann (Consumer Advice Center NRW) and Michael Sell (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority).

The question which role businesses play in protecting human rights has gained public attention in recent years. In June 2011 the UN Human Rights Council adopted the "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" which have been developed by Prof John Ruggie. These principles explain how companies should fulfill their human rights responsibilities. On 28th of Sept 2011 BP invited to a workshop to take stock. What do these principles mean for businesses, governments and NGOs? What are the challenges in implementing them and what role do the various stakeholders play? ConPolicy Director Dr Christian Thorun moderated the debate between representatives from businesses, government and NGOs.

In order to represent political interests effectively, press officers not only need to know how to communicate with classical media, but also how to use the Internet and social media. Together with the CEO of Sellgate Hamburg Wolfgang Hennes ConPolicy advices political organisations and companies how to most effectively use the Internet in their public affairs strategies. Together they also published an introduction to Digital Public Affairs with the Association of German Press Officers. Furthermore, starting in autumn they are going to teach an online seminar on Digital Public Affairs at the Quadriga Academy Berlin. In the seminar Sachar Kriwoj, Devision Deputy Digital Public Affairs at E-Plus-Group, and  Sebastian Haselbeck, Community Manager at the Google Co:llaboratory, will share insights into their companies' experiences with social media. (Further information can be found here.)

Privacy issues have loomed large in recent years in the public debate in Germany. Many consumers do not trust companies in their handling of consumer data. To improve data protection ConPolicy works in a project to develop the "Privacy portal - Your right to access". The Internet portal should reduce the burden for consumers to make use of their right to access. Furthermore, tools will be developed that assist companies to systematically and more effectively process consumer requests to access their personal data. The project is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Consumer Protection (BMELV) and will be developed jointly by ConPolicy, the Unabhängigen Landeszentrum für Datenschutz (ULD) and the IT-Company Consist.

Despite a growing awareness among consumers for sustainability issues consumers have not yet changed their consumption patterns significantly. In an expert workshop on sustainable consumption the Otto Group asked the question what businesses, politics and civil society can do to reach out also to those consumers who do not yet show an interest in sustainability issues. In a policy paper ConPolicy Director Dr Christian Thorun lays out his perspective. His key argument is: Consumer information alone is insufficient to change consumer behaviour towards more sustainability. A more dimensional approach is necessary that includes inter alia measures to internalize external costs (Download German version .pdf).

The Financial crisis has spurred changes also in financial services supervision. In the US the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been created and in the EU three newly established supervisory authorities are now tasked also with consumer protection. At a conference of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) the question was discussed which factors need to be considered for an effective supervisory regime. ConPolicy director Dr Christian Thorun moderated a discussion between the Executive Director of the European Banking Authority, Adam Farkas, and two representatives of US and EU consumer organizations, Norma Garcia and Manfred Westphal.

Consumers increasingly use the Internet to search for information and to share their experiences about brands, products and services. For both consumer policy and businesses it is important to know what consumers are talking about. ConPolicy conducts Social Media Analyses and uses the social-media-analysis-tool Condor of Galaxyadvisors AG. The tool was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by Dr Peter Gloor (further information).

Climate change, the demographic development and the overuse of natural resources pose serious challenges to our societies. For more than 40 years the Club of Rome has worked towards more sustainability. Since 2004 the Club is supported by an interdisciplinary network of young people who are organized in the Think Tank 30. ConPolicy Director Dr Christian Thorun was selected this year as one of the new members.

More and more companies recognize that a responsible business conduct also has to encompass responsibility for societal issues. Together with the Forum for Sustainable Development of German Business (econsense) and the UPJ-network the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) hosts a forum on Sustainable Development and CSR at the Hannover Messe. ConPolicy Director Dr Christian Thorun will moderate the sessions of the Federal Ministry. In these sessions both the German government and businesses will present their diverse projects (Flyer).

The demand for Fairtrade products has grown continuously. One of the factors for success of Fairtrade products is the credibility of the Fairtrade label. The FLO-Cert GmbH is responsible for the world-wide compliance of all producers with the standards of the Fairtrade Labelling Organization. ConPolicy Director Dr Christian Thorun will support the work of FLO-Cert in its supervisory board in the next three years. 130 independent inspectors control 1100 retailers in 79 countries as well as 1.000 producer groups in 60 countries.

Behavioural economics challenges a number of economic dogmas. In particular it questions the view of human beings being a rational and self-interest maximizing homo oeconomicus. For consumer policy behavioural economics promises a range of insights. While consumer policy makers in Great Britain and at the EU-Commission already integrate insights from behavioural economics in their work, this is not the case in Germany. In this policy brief Director of ConPolicy, Dr Christian Thorun, concludes that this lack of integration of behavioural insights by German consumer policy makers should be rectified. In so doing traditional instruments of consumer policy can be improved and new and more effective instruments might be applied (Download German version .pdf).

Consumer advice to individual consumers is essential to ensuring that consumers take conscious purchasing-decisions and are aware of their rights and responsibilities. In the previous years the Indian government has begun to put in place a State Consumer Helpline. German Technical Cooperation has flanked this initiative by setting up Consumer Advice Centres in four states in a pilot project. At the end of the pilot phase ConPolicy develops a Toolkit for the set-up and running of Consumer Advice Centres and State Consumer Helplines. For this Toolkit Indian and international practices are analysed and a hands-on toolkit with practical guidance is developed.

Nationally and internationally it is debated how consumer protection can be improved in the market for financial services. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) commissioned ConPolicy to investigate what Germany can learn from British and Irish experiences with institutionalized consumer protection in financial services supervision. The results of the study were presented at a vzbv-conference at 25 October 2010 in Berlin. The study builds upon a study by Keßler, Micklitz and Reich and investigates further some questions from a political science perspective.

Trade in the Internet booms in China and poses challenges to consumer protection. In a research project, that is financed by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), a German-Chinese team of experts will analyse in the next six months practices in Germany and the European Union and assess to what extent they can be transposed to China. ConPolicy will provide its expertise in consumer protection to this project.

Politics relies on policy research and advice. On 3 September 2010 the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung together with the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) organized a round-table. Experts discussed the question whether prominent assumptions of many German policy-makers about an “enlightened” consumer were based on facts and what consumer policy research should and could do to improve the effectiveness of consumer policy. Dr Christian Thorun, Director of ConPolicy, moderated the first panel with Prof Dr Claus Offe (Hertie School of Governance), Gerd Billen (Executive Director of the Federation of German Consumer) und Dr Christian Grugel (Director in the German Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection). Michael Fischer, responsible for consumer policy at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, published an article that summarizes the conclusions of the workshop (Download German version .pdf).

The newly founded Quadriga Hochschule Berlin trains communication managers. ConPolicy Director, Dr Christian Thorun, will teach a course on “Foundations and Principles of Politics”. Students will be introduced to the academic discipline of political science and theory, political decision-making and the main institutions and players in the German political system.