Organizations Concerned with Consumer Issues or E-commerce

• Consumers International: A worldwide non-profit federation of consumer organizations, dedicated to the protection and promotion of consumer interests.
• International Chamber of Commerce (ICCWBO): A world business organization of companies and associations from 130 countries formed to promote international trade, investment and the market economy system worldwide.
• OECD Consumer Policy Committee (CPC): The focal point within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for consumer issues is its Consumer Policy Committee.
• OECD CPC Web Site on Sustainable Consumption: A site designed to serve as a platform to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information to help countries promote sustainable consumption patterns.
• National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG): The association for state attorneys general in the U.S., whose responsibilities typically include consumer protection law enforcement.
• PhoneBusters: A Canadian task force coordinated by the Ontario Provincial Police which collects and disseminates victim evidence, documentation, statistics and tape recordings to outside investigations and educates the public about fraudulent telemarketing practices.
• National Fraud Information Center (NFIC): A project of the U.S.-based National Consumers League, a private non-profit organization, which provides consumer information regarding telemarketing and Internet fraud and maintains a complaint database.
• Better Business Bureaus (BBB): A web site provided by the Council of Better Business Bureaus for the U.S. and Canada, containing business and consumer alerts and permitting the filing of online complaints.
• Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD): A forum of US and EU consumer organisations which develops joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote consumer interests.
• Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD): A framework for enhanced cooperation between the transatlantic business community and the governments of the EU and US.
• Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA): A governmental partnership for developing democracy, free trade and sustainable development in the Americas.
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Electronic Commerce Steering Group (APEC): A cooperative governmental effort to facilitate the growth and development of electronic commerce.

• OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce: The Guidelines were approved on 9 December 1999 by the OECD’s Council, and are designed to help ensure that consumers are no less protected when shopping online than they are when they buy from their local store or order from a catalogue.
• ICC General Usage for International Digitally Ensured Commerce (GUIDEC) :GUIDEC has been drafted by the ICC Information Security Working Party, under the auspices of the ICC Electronic Commerce Project. The ICC Electronic Commerce Project is an international, multidisciplinary effort to study, facilitate and promote the emerging global electronic trading system.
• Electronic Commerce and the European Union: A European Commission web site which presents a variety of information on the latest developments in electronic commerce in the European Union and further afield.
• Center for Research in Electronic Commerce (CREC): The CREC is a center for research and education in the areas of electronic commerce and digital products. It is located at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Texas at Austin. The site includes course descriptions, articles, publications, and links to online resources.
• Electronic Commerce Research Center: The Electronic Commerce Research Center is part of the Information Technology Research Institute at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and offers research, training and consulting in issues related to electronic commerce.
• Open Electronic Commerce Project : The Open Electronic Commerce Project is sponsored by Euridis, an information technology research institute at Erasmus University located in the Netherlands. The purpose of the project is to achieve computerized support for electronic commerce between parties with no prior relationships.
• Project 2000: A project to study the marketing implications of commercializing the World Wide Web, conducted by the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.

• EUR-Lex : Easy access to EU law, including legislation, treaties, decisions of the Court of Justice of European Communities, and the Official Journal.
• CLAB Europa: This is a searchable database containing the "jurisprudence" on unfair terms in consumer contracts in EEA countries.
• World Wide Web Virtual Law Library: Indiana University's collection of law-related websites maintained by institutions throughout the world, each administering a different subject. Material within the Virtual Law Library is organized by organization type and by legal topic. There is also a list of search tools and other comprehensive sites for law.
• Legal Information Institute: Cornell University's collection of online legal materials, which includes U.S. Supreme Court opinions and the U.S. Code