World Consumer Rights Day
Products must be safe and fit for purpose.
On 15 March each year, the global consumer movement marks World Consumer Rights Day, coordinated by Consumers International. It is a moment to reflect on the progress made in protecting consumers and to highlight the work still needed to ensure fairness and safety in modern markets.
Consumers should be able to trust that the products they purchase for their homes and families are safe, reliable and fit for purpose.
Consumers must be confident and protected. This message is both simple and powerful. Yet we know that this expectation is not always met.
The Challenge of Global Supply Chains
Global supply chains have expanded rapidly, and online marketplaces now allow products to move across borders with unprecedented speed. While this has brought convenience and choice, it has also increased the challenge of ensuring that unsafe or non-compliant goods do not reach consumers.
- Products move across borders faster than regulatory oversight can follow
- Online marketplaces create new gaps in accountability
- Non-compliant goods can reach consumers before detection
When product safety systems fail, the consequences can be serious. Consumers may face financial loss, property damage or personal injury. In the most severe cases, unsafe products can lead to tragedy.
Product safety is therefore not simply a technical regulatory matter. It is closely connected to the rights to life, health and security.
At the Consumer Protection Bureau (CPB), we regularly encounter cases where consumers discover too late that products or installations were not as safe or reliable as promised. These experiences highlight the need for stronger prevention, clearer accountability and more effective enforcement.
- Stronger prevention before unsafe products reach shelves
- Clearer accountability across the supply chain
- More effective enforcement when standards are breached
World Consumer Rights Day reminds us that markets work best when trust is protected.
"Safe products are not a luxury they are the foundation of confident consumers."
Has an unsafe or non-compliant product affected you?
CPB provides structured support and representation for consumers.
Submit your case through our secure online form.