Mission
The Netherlands Consumer Authority's mission statement is: "To promote fair trade between businesses and consumers, based on the economic interests of consumers."
Vision
The Netherlands Consumer Authority strives to make a difference for consumers. The Netherlands Consumer Authority promotes fair trade between businesses and consumers, based on the economic interests of consumers.
The Netherlands Consumer Authority cannot take up every case, so it needs to make a selection. It will act in those cases where the needs of consumers are ignored the most. Providing consumer advice and enforcing consumer protection laws are considered inextricable and mutually supportive tasks.
The Consuwijzer information desk aims to empower consumers who know and exercise their rights. The information gathered by the information desk is stored in the Netherlands Consumer Authority's intelligence system in order for us to be able to track down and end existing violations and to prevent new ones.
As regulator, we take swift and decisive action: our aim is to end violations as soon as possible, thus preventing further harm to consumers. Severe violations are penalised.
In carrying out its tasks, the Netherlands Consumer Authority is independent and transparent to both consumers and businesses.
Both within the Netherlands as well as abroad, the Netherlands Consumer Authority strives to be known as an excellent and innovative regulator, as well as a reliable source of information for consumers.
The organisational culture at the Netherlands Consumer Authority is characterised by genuine enthusiasm and close cooperation. We continuously invest in the professional development of both our employees and that of the organisation as a whole.
Tasks
Against this backdrop, the Netherlands Consumer Authority carries out its tasks, which can be summarised as follows:
- Monitoring and raising compliance with consumer laws, and, if necessary, taking enforcement actions;
- Co-ordination of cross-border requests for mutual assistance on the basis of Regulation 2006/2004 (as Single Liaison Office for the Netherlands), and;
- Empowering consumers and suppliers by providing them with information and guidance through a shared helpdesk (called ConsuWijzer).
This helpdesk is operated in cooperation with the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) and the Dutch Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTa). The first two tasks relate to statutory tasks based on Regulation 2006/2004 and on the Dutch Consumer Protection Enforcement Act (Whc). The third task supports the first two tasks and is a direct result of the national strategic action programme for consumer policy.
The tasks aim to restore and/or improve consumer confidence in the market. After all, violations prevent consumers from making informed and efficient choices, which in turn leads to markets from functioning properly, which would enable fraudulent suppliers to unfairly take sales away from bona fide suppliers.
The above-mentioned tasks are inextricably bound to each other and mutually support each other. Empowering consumers and raising consumer awareness via ConsuWijzer increase the incentive for companies to comply with consumer laws, thus supporting public-enforcement efforts. Likewise, the information received by ConsuWijzer forms an important source of information for the Netherlands Consumer Authority based on which it initiates and prioritises investigative action into alleged violations of consumer laws.
