Consumer Responsibilities

1. The responsibility to be more alert and questioning about the price and quality of goods and services we use.
2. The responsibility to assert ourselves and act to ensure that we get a fair deal.
3. The responsibility to be aware of the impact of our consumption on other citizens.
4. The responsibility to understand the environmental consequences of our consumption.
5. The responsibility to develop the strength and influence to promote and protect our interests.

It is clear from these lists that consumer issues have moved beyond a narrow concentration on consumer protection, to embrace and promote a wider agenda.

Consumer protection remains an essential part of the work of consumer organisations. But consumer protection is essentially defensive and responsive. To be effective the consumer movement must also be dynamic - setting the agenda, defining solutions, shaping opportunities, and interacting with those who provide goods and services in a positive and creative way.

In a modern and growing economy the consumer must be the driving force that requires innovation, forces change and growth, and accepts nothing less than real quality underpinned by genuine choice.

The agenda for the Consumers' Association of Ireland Ltd. is to continue to work for the protection of Irish consumers in the European Union. We will also proceed with our endeavours to improve consumer education. The consumer must become more assertive, sometimes in partnership with the producer, and sometimes taking the lead.