KCA, disseminated Korean-style consumer protection laws and institutions in partnership with KOICA

- Conducted a training program for government officials in charge of consumer affairs in developing countries -

    The Korea Consumer Agency(KCA)(President Hee-sook Lee) conducted a training program in partnership with Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA)* for government officials in charge of consumer affairs in developing countries. The program, titled “Improving & Specializing Consumer Affairs,” was attended by a total of 20 participants from 11 countries** from July 1 to 21.

* As part of its Official Development Assistance(OCA) projects, KOICA has organized country-specific or multi-country training programs for government officials of developing countries in various fields of public administration including consumer policy.

 ** 7 Asian countries(Bhutan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka), 1 African country(Tunisia), 2 Latin American countries(Peru, Dominican Republic), 1 Oceanian country(Samoa)

    The training program was designed to share the consumer protection-related experiences, knowhow, etc. unique to the KCA as well as Korea’s consumer administration system with developing countries which have relatively insufficient consumer protection-related laws and institutions due to their “economic development-first” policy.

    The KCA expected that the program participants would develop their capacity as a consumer policy specialist through the training course, such as lectures on Korea’s advanced consumer policies, laws, and institutions, workshops to find ways to resolve the problems that each country had in their consumer policy implementation system, etc. The lectures were given by experts from the KCA, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), consumer groups, etc., and all lectures were conducted in English language.

    In addition to the seven countries which participated in the program last year, Bhutan, Myanmar, Indonesia and Samoa newly joined the program this year, and in particular, Bhutan and Samoa which newly established an organization dedicated to consumer policy in 2014 and 2016, respectively, actively hoped to learn Korea’s experiences, and were included in the program participating countries for the first time.

    At the program opening ceremony held on July 3, KCA President Hee-sook Lee said, “One country is never enough to resolve global consumer issues, and I hope this program will lay the foundation for cooperation in resolving such international consumer issues.”

    The KCA expects that its exchange and cooperation projects to support developing countries will help raise Korea’s global profile as a leader in consumer affairs, and further support business activities of domestic companies advancing into the markets of developing countries. In particular, it also predicts that the participation of government officials in charge of consumer administration in developing countries will help strengthen Korea’s international cooperation network.