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While primarily intended to facilitate informal cooperation
between member organizations, the Network meets as a group
twice a year in the country which holds the Presidency. The
Presidency is responsible for hosting these conferences and
maintains a list of the network contacts. Conferences are
conducted in English and French, with simultaneous
translation. Informal contacts between Network members are
frequent, and concern a number of issues related to
cross-border disputes.
Currently, the Presidency is held by the Office of Competition
and Consumer Protection of Poland. Past presidents include
Korea (2005-2006), the United Kingdom (2004-2005), Finland,
(2003-2004) Australia (2002-2003), Switzerland (2001-2002)
United States (2000-2001), Norway (1999-2000), Belgium
(1998-99), Ireland (1997-98), Canada (1996-97), Austria
(1995-96), Sweden (1994-95), France (1993-94) and the United
Kingdom (1992-93).
Apart form biannual conferences, ICPEN members maintain
permanent contacts via monthly teleconferences organized by
ICPEN Secretariat. Moreover, ICPEN countries cooperate in
Working Groups. Currently, there are 7 Working Groups
established with ICPEN:
Econsumer.gov
Mass Marketing Fraud
Internet Sweep
Fraud Prevention Month
Best Practices
Scam Watch
Strategy Planning
Econsumer.gov
was created in 2001 by thirteen countries and is led by the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the USA. The purpose of the
project is to “enhance consumer protection and consumer
confidence in e-commerce”. The econsumer.gov Web site
(available in English, French, German, Korean, Spanish, Polish
and Japanese) provides information on consumer protection
regimes in ICPEN member countries, useful online shopping tips
and information on ways to resolve consumer complaints. The US
FTC also operates a database of consumer complaint data that
may be used by national law enforcers to investigate
e-commerce complaints. You may submit your complaint by
filling in a complaint form available at
www.econsumer.gov.
The Mass Marketing Fraud
Working Group was created following the 2005 Edinburgh ICPEN
conference. Currently 13 countries are involved in the
project. It is co-chaired by Australia and Canada. The
objectives of the WG include increasing information and
intelligence sharing within ICPEN and undertaking joint
enforcement actions against Mass Marketing Fraud. At present,
the WG’s actions focus on lottery and sweepstake scams.
Internet Sweep
is an initiative aimed at fining and eliminating Internet
sites that are potentially deceptive or fraudulent. The
participants of a Sweep Day surf the Internet in a search for
any questionable sites. Next, the sites identified as
potentially harmful to consumers are sent e-mail messages
warning them that consumer protection legislation applies not
only to traditional media, but also to the Internet, e.g. that
deceptive advertising is illegal also on the Internet.
Fraud Prevention Month (FPM)
is an initiative consisting in ICPEN members’ undertaking each
year in the course of a month a set of information and
educational projects aimed at raising consumer awareness,
usually in one or more specific fields (e-shopping, lottery
scams, identity theft, etc.)
Best Practices Working Group
is currently coordinated by the Netherlands. The WG organises
regular Best Practices Trainings for the investigators from
the enforcement agencies participating in ICPEN. These training
sessions’ objectives are: to exchange information, share
useful experiences and strengthen mutual cooperation.
ScamWatch
Working Group was set up on a decision taken at the Warsaw
conference in October 2006. It aims at creating within ICPEN a
global (international) rapid alert system for scams and other
information that might be relevant for consumers and consumer
protection regimes across different jurisdictions.
Strategy Planning
Working Group was set up on a decision taken at the Warsaw
conference in October 2006. Its aim is to devise a mid-long
term strategy for the Network, against which it would be
possible to analyse optional future activities and
initiatives. The members of the Strategy Working Group are:
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, UK and US. |
Operations
