The Consumer Council of Norway (Norwegian: ''Forbrukerrådet'') is a Norwegian

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

and

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

organisation established in 1953. It works to increase consumer influence in society, to contribute to consumer-friendly developments, and to promote measures that strengthen the position of consumers. The Norwegian government funds the Consumer Council, leaving it free to develop an independent consumer policy and independent of commercial interests and other organisations.

Structure

The Consumer Council has its own board of directors and statutes laid down by the Ministry of Children and Equality and is chaired by Director Inger Lise Blyverket. Approximately 80 people work at the Consumer Council's office in Oslo. The Consumer Council helps put consumer questions on the agenda and promote consumers' interests by influencing authorities, organisations, and businesses; educating consumers through information, advice, and guidance; and helping individual consumers.

Consumer policy

The Consumer policy department runs the Consumer Council's work to influence governmental and business life in a consumer-friendly direction through dialogue, impact work and publications. The policy work is aimed at areas that have a high economic impact for consumers, where consumer satisfaction is low, and potentially could to affect all sectors. In some cases, existing regulations are not enough, and the Consumer Council is therefore working politically to strengthen legal consumer protection. In other cases, the work is about affecting the competitive situation and how markets operate. The Consumer Council also has an extensive international cooperation with sister organizations in Europe, and especially with the umbrella organization in Brussels;

BEUC The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC (), from the French name ''Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs'', "European Bureau of Consumers' Unions") is an umbrella consumers' group, founded in 1962. Based in Brussels, Belgium, it brings to ...

. The priority policy areas of the Consumer Council are sustainability, digital services, and economic exclusion.

Assisting consumers

Each year, 50 000 consumers directly contact the Norwegian Consumer Council for assistance.

Profiled cases

* On January 25, 2006, the Consumer Council filed a complaint regarding

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

' Term of Service. * On October 15, 2015 The Consumer Counci
filed a lawsuit against Norway's largest bank
DNB on behalf of 180,000 consumers. * On May 25, 2016 The Consumer Counci
read app terms for 32 hours
to demonstrate what reading the terms and conditions actually entails. The stunt gained world wide attention. * On June 27, 2018, the Consumer Council of Norway published the repor
"''Deceived by Design - How Tech Companies Use Dark Patterns to Discourage Us from Exercising Our Rights to Privacy''"
which provides examples of how Google, Facebook and Microsoft nudges users into choosing the less privacy friendly options. The report is part of the campaign ''Manipulativ Design'', which also includes a more in-depth report o
Google's usage of deceptive design
* On January 14, 2020 the Consumer Council of Norway published the repor
"''Out of control - How consumers are exploited by the online advertising industry''"
which details the use of personal

data collection Data collection or data gathering is the process of gathering and measuring information on targeted variables in an established system, which then enables one to answer relevant questions and evaluate outcomes. Data collection is a research com ...

and profiling for

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

. Technical tests of 10 popular apps revealed these alone were transmitting user data to at least 135 different third parties involved in

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and/or behavioural profiling. The report was made as part of a larger campaign ''Out of Control'' containing several articles, an accompanying comprehensiv
technical report
covering their

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

and detailed findings, as well as updates to their filed complaints. * In June, 2021, they published a report,
"Time to Ban Surveillance Based Advertising"
' detailing the socially detrimental effects of surveillance advertising and a call for it to be banned. * In May, 2022, they published another report, '
INSERT COIN - How the gaming industry exploits consumers using loot boxes"
' concerning a wide variety of problems with the marketing and use of

loot box In video game terminology, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or Loot (video gaming), ''loot'', ranging from simpl ...

mechanics in video games, and a call for the use of loot boxes to be far more regulated or potentially banned. * On June 20, 2023, they publishe
"''GHOST IN THE MACHINE - Addressing the consumer harms of generative AI''"
along with a release day webinar on the topic. The report has been written about in several outlets participating in the

public debate Public debate may mean simply debating by the public, or in public. The term is also used for a particular formal style of debate in a competitive or educational context. Two teams of two compete through six rounds of argument, giving persuasiv ...

about the rise of

generative artificial intelligence Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models Machine learning, learn the underlyin ...

, such as Tech Report, Computer Weekly, and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. As of January 2024, their work on AI is ongoing and listed as a larger campaign ''Generative AI'' sidelined with the earlier campaigns ''Manipulativ Design'' and ''Out of Control''.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Consumer Council 1953 establishments in Norway Consumer rights agencies