ICPEN

ICPEN stands for "International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network".

The ICPEN does not provide support for individual consumer issues, but works at the level of national consumer agencies. The UK's Office of Fair Trading is a member of the ICPEN. The role of the ICPEN is the settle disputes amongst the consumer agencies of nations.

As the European Union has consumer laws for all it's member states, the ICPEN is not needed for cross border disputes within the EU. Instead, it will solve disputes between nations in the EU, such as the UK, and nations outside of the EU.

While the Office of Fair Trading can pass individual complaints to the ICPEN, it's more likely to discuss problems which effect a larger number of consumers. An example of this was the recent 'International Internet Sweep' which saw a coalition of consumer agencies combine to dismantle online scams and promote education and confidence in ecommerce.

The following nations are members of the ICPEN,

• Australia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Barbados
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Chile
• China
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• El Salvador
• Egypt
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Panama
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States