After five years of negotiations, at the end of July 2024, more than 90 WTO member states agreed on a joint statement for online trade. This Joint Statement Initiative on global e-commerce brings important improvements to consumer protection in online trade. This represents a significant strengthening of consumer rights, particularly for cross-border transactions.
The agreement aims to create uniform rules for online trade worldwide and to ensure that consumers also enjoy adequate protection when making international purchases. The key measures include stronger data protection regulations, building cybersecurity capacities, compliance with product safety rules and new mechanisms for resolving disputes between consumers and online retailers.
A key concern of the agreement is protection against fraudulent or misleading practices in e-commerce. It also strengthens the ability of national consumer protection authorities to work together efficiently to process and enforce international cases.
The European consumer protection organization BEUC welcomes the initiative’s efforts to strengthen consumer rights.