The Minister for Financial Services & Regulation, Joe Hockey, today welcomed the release of OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce.
"Australia has been actively involved in drafting the guidelines. They represent the most substantial international agreement in this area and are a significant step towards increasing consumer confidence in electronic commerce," the Minister said.
The guidelines, just approved by the OECD's Council, are designed to help ensure consumers are no less protected while shopping online than they are when making purchases offline.
They are the result of 18 months discussions among representatives of OECD governments and business and consumer organisations. The guidelines will play a major role in assisting governments, business and consumer representatives to develop and implement online consumer protection mechanisms, without erecting barriers to trade.
"I am committed to developing Australia as a centre of excellence in the area of consumer protection and electronic commerce. A Best Practice Model that builds on the OECD Guidelines is already being developed to provide guidance to Australian businesses," the Minister said.
The guidelines are non-binding, but reflect existing legal protections available to consumers in more traditional forms of commerce. They are intended to encourage private sector initiatives that include the participation of consumer representatives. They emphasise the need for co-operation among governments, businesses and consumers at both the national and international level.
The guidelines stress the importance of transparency and information disclosure. They call for: fair business, advertising and marketing practices; clear information about an online businesss identity, the goods or services it offers and the terms and conditions of any transaction; a transparent process for the confirmation of transactions; secure payment mechanisms; fair, timely and affordable dispute resolution and redress; privacy protection; and consumer and business education.
The guidelines are available on the Internet at http://www.oecd.org/news_and_events/