I. Objectives
1. Taking into account the interests and demands of all member states' consumers, especially those from developing countries, and recognizing that consumers often find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of economic capacity, educational attainment, and bargaining power, and bearing in mind that consumers should have the right to obtain harmless products and also have the right to promote just, fair and sustainable economic and social development as well as environmental protection, therefore, this "Consumer Protection Guidelines" has the following objectives: 

(a) Assist countries in achieving or maintaining appropriate protection for the population as consumers; 

(b) Promote production and sales models that can meet consumers' demands and aspirations; 

(c) Encourage the high moral conduct of producers and sellers of consumer goods; 

(d) Assist all countries in curbing all kinds of fraudulent business practices that are detrimental to consumers at both national and international levels; 

(e) Assist in the establishment of independent consumer associations; 

(f) Promote international cooperation in the field of consumer protection; 

(g) Encourage the development of market conditions and provide consumers with goods and services that are of good quality and reasonable price. 

(h) Promote sustainable consumption. 

II. Scope of Application
2. This "Code of Conduct" is applicable to transactions between enterprises and consumers, including cases where state-owned enterprises provide products and services to consumers. Within the scope of this "Code of Conduct", consumer protection policies encompass laws, regulations, rules, frameworks, procedures, decisions, mechanisms, plans, and standards and recommendations of the private sector formulated by member states to safeguard consumers' rights and promote their welfare. 

3. For the purposes of this Code, the term "consumer" generally refers to a natural person who consumes goods or services mainly for personal, family or household purposes, regardless of nationality. It is recognized that Member States may adopt different definitions to meet specific domestic needs. 

III. General Provisions
4. Member States shall formulate, strengthen and maintain strong and effective consumer protection policies, taking into account the following principles and relevant international agreements. To this end, each Member State must determine its own consumer protection priorities based on its own economic, social and environmental circumstances, as well as the needs of the public, and taking into account the costs and benefits of the proposed measures. 

5. This "Code of Conduct" is designed to meet the following reasonable demands: 

(a) Consumers can obtain basic goods and services. 

(b) Protect vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers; 

(c) Protect consumers' health and safety from harm; 

(d) Promote and protect the economic interests of consumers; 

(e) Consumers can obtain adequate information so that they can make informed choices based on their personal desires and needs. 

(f) Conduct consumer education, including education on the environmental, social and economic consequences of the choices made by consumers; 

(g) Provide effective mechanisms for resolving and remedying consumer disputes; 

(h) Consumers can freely establish consumer organizations and other related groups or organizations, and these organizations have the opportunity to express their views in the decision-making process that affects them. 

(i) Promote sustainable consumption patterns; 

(j) Provide protection for consumers who use e-commerce, at a level no less than that provided for consumers who use other forms of business; 

(k) Protecting consumer privacy and ensuring free flow of global information. 

6. Unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, especially those existing in industrialized countries, are the main causes of the continuous deterioration of the global environment. All member states should strive to advocate sustainable consumption patterns; developed countries should take the lead in achieving sustainable consumption patterns; developing countries should strive to realize sustainable consumption patterns during their development process, while appropriately taking into account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. The special circumstances and needs of developing countries in this regard should be fully considered. 

7. Policies aimed at promoting sustainable consumption should take into account the goals of eradicating poverty, meeting the basic human needs of all members of society, and reducing inequalities within and among countries. 

8. Member States should provide or maintain appropriate infrastructure for formulating, implementing and monitoring consumer protection policies. Special attention should be paid to ensuring that consumer protection measures are implemented effectively to benefit all strata of the population, especially rural people and the poor. 

9. All enterprises should abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the countries where they operate. They should also comply with the appropriate provisions of the international standards for consumer protection recognized by the competent authorities of the relevant countries (the meaning of the international standards mentioned in this "Code" in the following text shall be subject to the interpretation of this paragraph). 

10. When formulating consumer protection policies, the potential roles that universities and public-private enterprises can play in research should be taken into consideration. 

IV. Principles of Good Business Practices
11. When establishing the best business practice benchmarks for conducting online and offline commercial activities with consumers, the following principles should be followed: 

(a) Treat consumers fairly and impartially. At all stages of their relationship with consumers, enterprises should be fair and honest, and this should be an integral part of their corporate culture. Enterprises should avoid practices that harm consumers, especially those that disadvantage vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers. 

(b) Business Conduct. Enterprises shall not adopt illegal, unethical, discriminatory or deceptive practices towards consumers, such as insulting marketing strategies, harsh collection methods or other improper behaviors that may pose unnecessary risks or harm to consumers. Enterprises and their authorized agents should appropriately consider the interests of consumers and take protecting consumers as their responsibility. 

(c) Disclosure of Information and Transparency. Enterprises should provide complete, accurate and non-misleading information regarding goods and services, terms, conditions, related costs and final costs, enabling consumers to make informed decisions. Enterprises should ensure that the above information, especially that of key terms and conditions, is easily accessible regardless of the technological means employed. 

(d) Education and raising awareness. Enterprises should, as appropriate, formulate various plans and mechanisms to assist consumers in obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills to understand various risks including financial risks, to make informed decisions, and to obtain competent and professional advice and assistance when needed, preferably from an independent third party. 

(e) Protecting Privacy. Enterprises should protect consumers' privacy when collecting and using their personal data through various measures such as control, security, transparency and consent mechanisms; 

(f) Consumer complaints and disputes. Enterprises should provide an appeal handling mechanism to enable consumers to resolve disputes promptly, fairly, transparently, cheaply, conveniently, swiftly and effectively without incurring unnecessary costs or burdens. Enterprises should consider adopting domestic and international standards involving internal complaint handling, non-litigious dispute resolution methods, and customer satisfaction guidelines. 

V. Criteria
12. The following criteria shall apply to domestic production and imported products and services. 

13. When any procedures or regulations for protecting consumers are adopted, due consideration should be given to ensure that they do not become barriers to international trade and are in line with international trade obligations. 

A. National policies for protecting consumers' rights and interests
14. Member States should formulate consumer protection policies that encourage the following behaviors: 

(a) Good business conduct; 

(b) Provide clear and timely information to facilitate communication between consumers and enterprises, enabling regulatory and law enforcement authorities to identify and locate the enterprises. Such information may include the enterprise's identity, legal name, business name, main physical address, website, email address or other contact means, telephone number, government registration or license number, etc. 

(c) Clear and timely information provided by the enterprise regarding the goods or services it offers, as well as the terms and conditions of the transactions. 

(d) Clear, concise, understandable and fair contractual terms; 

(e) Transparent procedures for transaction confirmation, cancellation, return and refund; 

(f) Secure payment mechanism; 

(g) Fair, affordable and prompt dispute resolution and remedial mechanisms; 

(h) Consumer Privacy and Data Security 

(i) Consumer and Enterprise Education. 

15. Member States should strive to ensure that consumer protection enforcement agencies have the necessary human and financial resources to facilitate effective compliance with relevant regulations, so that consumers can receive remedies in appropriate circumstances or be facilitated to obtain such remedies. 

B. Personal Safety
16. Member States should take or encourage the taking of appropriate measures, including legal systems, safety regulations, national or international standards, voluntary standards and safekeeping of safety records, to ensure that products can be safely used for the specified purposes or the usual foreseeable purposes. 

17. Appropriate policies should be adopted to ensure that the products manufactured by manufacturers can be safely used for the specified purposes or the generally foreseeable purposes. The parties responsible for delivering the goods to the market, especially suppliers, exporters, importers, retailers, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "distributors"), should ensure that the goods under their custody will not become unsafe due to improper storage or handling, nor cause harm due to improper storage or handling. Instructions on how consumers can use the goods correctly should be provided, and the risks involved in the specified purposes or the generally foreseeable purposes should be informed to consumers. Key safety information should be explained to consumers as much as possible using internationally recognized symbols. 

18. Appropriate policies should be adopted to ensure that manufacturers and distributors promptly notify the relevant authorities and the public without delay once they discover unforeseen hazards after the products enter the market. Member States should also consider how to ensure that consumers are properly informed of such hazards. 

19. Member States should, as appropriate, formulate policies stipulating that if it is found that a product has serious defects and/or constitutes a major or serious hazard even when used correctly, the manufacturer and/or the distributor should recall the product, replace it or improve it, or replace it with another product; if this cannot be done within a reasonable time, consumers should be properly compensated. 

C. Promoting and Protecting Consumers' Economic Interests
20. Member States should endeavor to enable consumers to realize the maximum benefits from their economic resources. They should also strive to achieve the following goals, namely, reaching satisfactory production and performance standards, adopting appropriate distribution methods, fair business practices, marketing methods that provide useful information, and effectively preventing practices that may harm consumers' economic interests and their exercise of choice rights in the market. 

21. Member States should intensify their efforts to ensure that manufacturers, distributors and other parties involved in the provision of goods and services comply with current laws and mandatory standards to prevent practices that harm consumers' economic interests. Consumer organizations should be encouraged to monitor various bad practices, such as food adulteration, false marketing or misleading marketing, and service fraud. 

22. Member States should, as appropriate, formulate, strengthen or maintain measures to control restrictive and other commercial practices that may be detrimental to consumers, including measures for their enforcement. In this regard, Member States should follow the "一套多边协议公平原则和规则" on the Regulation of Restrictive Business Practices adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 35/63 of 5 December 1980. 

23. Member States should adopt or maintain relevant policies to clearly stipulate the responsibilities of manufacturers to ensure that the goods meet reasonable requirements for durability, practicality and reliability, are suitable for the intended uses of the goods, and that the sellers ensure that these requirements are fulfilled. Similar policies should also be adopted in the provision of services. 

24. Member States should encourage fair and effective competition so as to provide consumers with the widest range of products and services at the lowest cost. Member States should ensure that their consumer protection policies are not used to protect domestic enterprises from competition or to be applied unfairly. 

25. Member States should, as appropriate, ensure that manufacturers and/or retailers provide adequate and reliable after-sales services and spare parts. 

26. Consumers should be protected from contract fraud, such as standard contracts that favor one party, contracts that exclude basic rights, and unreasonable credit conditions provided by sellers. 

27. Promotion and sales practices should be guided by the principle of fair treatment towards consumers and should comply with legal regulations. This requires providing necessary information so that consumers can make informed and independent decisions, and taking measures to ensure the accuracy of the information provided. 

28. Member States should encourage all relevant parties to facilitate the free flow of comprehensive and accurate information concerning consumer products. 

29. Consumers should be encouraged to obtain accurate information regarding the environmental impact of products and services through providing product overview introductions, industry environment reports, consumer information centers, voluntary and transparent eco-labeling programs, and product information hotlines. 

30. Member States should cooperate closely with manufacturers, distributors and consumer organizations to take measures against misleading environmental claims or messages in advertising and other marketing activities. They should encourage the formulation of appropriate advertising regulations and standards to supervise and verify environmental claims. 

31. Member States should, within the framework of their own national conditions, encourage enterprises to cooperate with consumer organizations to formulate and implement marketing codes and other business practices to ensure adequate protection of consumers. Enterprises, consumer organizations and other relevant parties may also jointly conclude voluntary agreements. These codes should be fully promoted and disseminated. 

32. Member States should frequently review legislation related to measurement and weights, and assess whether the enforcement mechanisms are adequate. 

D. Safety and Quality Standards for Consumer Goods and Services
33. Member States should, at both national and international levels, formulate or promote the formulation and implementation of voluntary standards and other standards for the safety and quality of products and services, and carry out appropriate publicity. National standards and regulations on product safety and quality should be reviewed from time to time to ensure that they are as consistent as possible with internationally recognized standards. 

34. If the standards adopted are lower than the internationally recognized ones due to local economic conditions, efforts should be made to raise the local standards as soon as possible. 

35. Member States should encourage and ensure the provision of facilities for testing and certifying the safety, quality and performance of essential consumer goods and services. 

E. Distribution Facilities for Basic Consumer Goods and Services
36. Member States shall, as appropriate, consider: 

(a) Adopt or maintain relevant policies to ensure efficient distribution of products and services to consumers; when appropriate, specific policies should be considered to ensure that basic products and services can be distributed in areas where distribution is hindered, especially in rural areas. Such policies may include assisting in the establishment of appropriate storage and retail facilities in rural central areas, encouraging self-help among consumers, and facilitating their better understanding of the conditions for providing basic goods and services in rural areas; and 

(b) Encourage the establishment of consumer cooperatives to conduct relevant transactions and collect information in this regard, especially in rural areas. 

F. Dispute Resolution and Remedies
37. Member States should encourage the establishment of fair, effective, transparent and impartial mechanisms to handle consumer complaints, including cross-border cases, through administrative, judicial and alternative dispute resolution methods. Member States should establish or maintain legal and/or administrative measures to enable consumers or relevant organizations to obtain remedies through prompt, fair, transparent, inexpensive and open formal or informal procedures. These procedures should particularly take into account the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers. Member States should provide consumers with means to obtain remedies, which are inexpensive, do not cause delays, do not result in unnecessary economic losses, and do not impose excessive or inappropriate burdens on society and enterprises. 

38. Member States should encourage all enterprises to resolve consumer disputes in a prompt, fair, transparent, cost-effective, convenient and informal manner, and establish voluntary mechanisms that can provide assistance to consumers, including advisory services and informal complaint procedures.