Four years after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was
established, consumer organisations worldwide say it has failed
to deliver on its key promises.

Consumers International, representing 247 consumer
organisations in 111 countries, says it cannot support a new
"Millennium Round" of trade negotiations proposed to begin next
year until crucial changes are made in how ­ and for whom ­ the
WTO and the trade liberalisation agenda operates.

A decision on the "Millennium Round" will be made when the
world?s trade ministers meet in Seattle (USA) in November.

According to Consumers International's newly released
document "Consumer Rights and the Multilateral Trading
System: What needs to be done before a Millennium Round",
preliminary evidence shows that consumer rights are being
undermined by the system as it exists now.

For example, when multinationals have problems exporting
because of a country's consumer protection legislation, they use
the threat of action through the WTO to intimidate governments
to bypass or change their laws.

"Increasing world trade can bring important benefits to
consumers," said Julian Edwards, Director-General of
Consumers International. "But we insist that they must be shared
equitably.

"Governments need to commit themselves to a very specific
agenda of reviewing, problem solving and fully implementing
existing agreements. Equitable, sustainable development and the
needs of the world's poorest consumers must have top priority."

Consumers International is launching a worldwide campaign on
16 August to demand that member states must include consumer
policy ­ the protection and promotion of consumer rights - in
trade policy at both the national and international level. The
campaign aims to ensure that views of consumers and the
consumer movement are represented in trade policy making.

Consumers International has submitted specific
recommendations for WTO members to adopt within the Seattle
WTO Ministerial Declaration, which will set the agenda for
future trade negotiations.

The document recommends that the WTO set up formal
mechanisms to protect consumers, particularly in the areas of
transparency, food security, food and product safety, health,
competition, services, investment and electronic commerce.

To ensure that the WTO benefits all consumers, it must promote
participation from both non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
and from developing country representatives.

This can be done by, in part, by setting up an accreditation
scheme for international NGOs, and by providing improved
assistance to developing countries.

Consumers International's underlying concern is that under the
current trade agreements, the distribution of wealth worldwide
has become increasingly unequal. This suggests that the
multilateral trading system and its management by the WTO is
failing in its stated mandate to promote sustainable development
and raise living standards throughout the world.

For example, in Africa, consumption per capita has actually
decreased by 20 percent in the last 20 years. International trade
agreements and rules have not reversed this decline, even though
world trade in total has increased.

The former WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero has himself
called the level of inequality between countries and people
"increasingly unacceptable.

"The ideas that billions are mired in poverty, while others grow
richer, is not just unsustainable, it is unconscionable," he said
recently.

To address this, former Director-General Ruggiero has called
for "a new approach, a new vision of global governance which
not only embraces ­ at the highest level of international decision-
making ­ more nations, but more issues and concerns."

Consumers International says now is the time to realise this new
approach - so that trade liberalisation benefits not just a few
multinationals, but all consumers.

Consumers International has launched a worldwide campaign to
ensure that consumer rights are supported by the multilateral
trading system.  The campaign was launched simultaneously in
Santiago, Chile; London, UK; Dakar, Senegal; Harare,
Zimbabwe; Bangalore, India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 16
August.

For more details on the campaign and Consumers International's
position for the forthcoming WTO Ministerial, please visit
www.consumersinternational.org/trade