Press Releases

Apple: European consumer organisations join forces in legal dispute over iTunes Music Store

"Interoperability is the key for the future of legal music downloads”

22.01.2007 - "We will join forces to safeguard consumer interests when purchasing digital content online”, the Consumer Ombudsmen in Finland and Norway, the French Consumer Organisation UFC Que Choisir and the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) declared. ...mehr

Nano Poison scandal: Misuse of a Major German Testing "Seal of Approval”

vzbv (Federation of German Consumer Organisations): "Product development of Nanotechnology being done using consumers”

14.04.2006 - In the recent scandal involving the application of nanotechnology, some 97 cases of poisoning - some serious - have been reported throughout Germany. The posising resulted from the use of the household cleaner "Nano Magic”. The exact cause still remains unknown. The vzbv criticised the manufacturer for a lack of planning in using nanotechnology without the appropriate precautions. ...mehr

Copyright is pricing consumers out of knowledge

New report finds WIPO is failing the world's poorest consumers

22.02.2006 - The worldwide federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International (CI), has condemned WIPO technical assistance as ‘thoroughly inadequate', and is demanding a wholesale review of the organisation's legislative advice to developing countries. ...mehr

Global Food Trade: Informed Consumers - A Challenge for the WTO?

European standards under pressure

27.01.2005 - International trade law threatens to lead to restrictions on the information available to consumers on the conditions under which their food is produced. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations - vzbv - voiced a warning on this subject at a conference on consumer protection in the global food trade in Berlin. ...mehr