World Consumer Rights Day 2022 Theme, History, Significance

World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on March 15 globally. It is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement.

Significance: The consumer movement marks 15th March with World Consumer Rights Day every year, as a means of raising global awareness about consumer rights and needs. Celebrating the day is a chance to demand that the rights of all consumers are respected and protected, and to protest against market abuses and social injustices which undermine those rights.

History: World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by President John F Kennedy, who sent a special message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962, in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights. He was the first world leader to do so. The consumer movement first marked that date in 1983 and now uses the day every year to mobilise action on important issues and campaigns.

World Consumer Rights Day 2022 Theme: “Fair Digital Finance”.

This year, the Membership of Consumers International – 200 consumer groups in 100 countries – selected ‘Fair Digital Finance’ as global theme. 

By 2024, digital banking consumers are expected to exceed 3.6 billion. In the developing world, the proportion of account owners sending and receiving payments digitally has grown from 57% in 2014 to 70% in 2017. Digital finance brings new opportunities – but also new risks that can lead to unfair outcomes for consumers. Digital finance can increase the likelihood that the most vulnerable are left behind.

Digital technologies are reshaping payments, lending, insurance, and wealth management, becoming a key enabler for consumers of financial services. However, in recent years and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are increasingly exposed to scams, frauds, phishing and data malpractices. Consumers who experience economic hardship are particularly vulnerable to these harms.

This World Consumer Rights Day will spark the first-ever global conversation on the consumer vision for fair digital finance.

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