Resolve a dispute
National disputesCross-border disputes
ICPEN is not an organisation that is able to handle individual consumer complaints. You should not necessarily expect any enforcement agency to pursue your complaint on your behalf. Many government agencies bring enforcement actions to protect the public, but do not intervene on behalf of individual consumer disputes.
National disputes
If your complaint does not have a cross border element, your should take up the case with your national consumer authority. Not all national consumer authorities have an obligation or the legal powers to investigate or resolve consumer complaints. Some national consumer authorities focus on law enforcement actions to protect the public interest but do not intervene in individual cases.
If you have purchased a good or service from a company that is based within your own country and have a dispute.
- Try to solve it directly with the company
- Contact your local national consumer authority
Cross-border disputes
If you have a dispute about an online or related transaction with a foreign company, first of all you should try to resolve it directly with that company. Consumer protection laws vary across different jurisdictions and the protections that you have in your country may not be the same in the country that the business is registered.
The main objective of ICPEN is to encourage practical action to prevent cross-border marketing malpractice and also encourage exchanges of information. Cross-border complaint information lodged through econsumer.gov helps ICPEN to identify misleading, deceptive and fraudulent commercial practices that cross international borders.
If you have purchased a good or service from a company that is based outside of the country of your residence and have a dispute. This is referred to as a cross-border dispute.
- Try to solve it directly with the company
- Contact your local national consumer authority
- Contact econsumer.gov
Cross-border disputes - European Union (EU)
If you have a dispute about an online or related transaction with the EU, first of all you should try to resolve it directly with that company. Consumer protection laws vary across different EU jurisdictions and the protections that you have in your country may not be the same in the country that the business is registered. The EC has the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation that governs the powers of enforcement authorities in the EU.
If you are a citizen of the EU and have purchased a good or service from a company that is based within the EU and have a dispute. This is referred to as an EU cross-border dispute.
- Try to solve it directly with the company
- Contact your local national consumer authority
- Contact ECC-Net