KCA President elected as Vice Chair of UNCTAD’s IGE

    President Lee Hee-sook of the Korea Consumer Agency(KCA) was elected as the Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy(IGE)* at the 4th meeting of IGE, organized by t he United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD), opened on Monday, July 8, in Geneva, Switzerland.

    *Since 2016, the IGE (Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy), organized the UNCTAD, which brings together government delegates and consumer protection agencies from about 80 countries, has been performing its functions, including monitoring the application and implementation in member states of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection, providing technological assistance to developing countries through investigation and research, holding meetings to discuss consumer issues, etc.

    The election of President Lee seems to relfect the international community’s positive national image of Korea, which has been committed to resolving international consumer issues and improving consumer policies and systems of developing countries.

    In particular, at this meeting, President Lee made positive contributions to providing a forum for full-fledged discussions on product safety at the UN by giving a presentation about the achievements that the KCA had made in the field of consumer saftey as the Vice Chair of the OECD Working Party on Consumer Product Safety(WP) since 2010.

The KCA expects that Korea’s global profile as a leader in consumer protection efforts can be raised with its participation in the 4th meeting of IGE in which a broad range of international consumer issues, including sustainable consumption, were successfully discussed.