Better Business Bureaus to Handle Cross-Border Consumer Complaints Involving Firms Headquartered in the U.S. and Canada

Arlington, VA., October 9, 2003 - Under an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau system in the United States and Canada will begin this week to handle specified cross-border consumer complaints filed on an international Web site, www.econsumer.gov. The web site is maintained by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), a membership organization consisting of law enforcement authorities from more than two dozen countries, most of which are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Under a six-month pilot project, consumers who visit the econsumer.gov Web site will be able to opt to have their cross-border complaint referred to a provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. That ADR provider will try to help resolve the consumer's complaint for free, or at very low cost. The BBB system will handle consumer complaints filed against businesses operating in the U.S. and Canada, at no cost to the consumer.

Up to this point, consumers who filed complaints through the econsumer.gov site did so for information purposes only, providing data to assist with law enforcement. The pilot project will permit them to get help in the resolution of their individual complaint. According to Federal Trade Commissioner Mozelle Thompson, "Consumers will now have a way to resolve their merchant complaints, no matter where the seller is located. This dispute resolution tool will provide a major boost to cross-border consumer confidence."

Ken Hunter, president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, concurred, noting that the agreement with the FTC and econsumer.gov "expands the BBB system's ability to assist businesses in meeting the needs of their customers abroad. Consumers in any country who file a complaint on the econsumer.gov Web site will now gain direct access to BBB services if their complaint concerns a business headquartered in the U.S. or Canada."

Hunter pointed out that the BBB system is already experienced in handling complaints from international consumers filed directly with the BBB's Web site, www.bbb.org. During the period from July 1, 2002 through June 30th, 2003, the BBB system handled 1,180 complaints through the bbb.org site from consumers outside the U.S. and Canada. Consumers in nearly every region of the world filed complaints with the BBB during the past year.

The agreement between the FTC and BBB system was announced this morning by ICPEN at its meeting in Helsinki, Finland. ICPEN's mandate is to share information about cross-border commercial activities that may affect consumer interests, and to encourage international cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

In addition to the BBB, ADR providers participating in the project include:

• The Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan (Ecom), which will handle complaints filed by consumers against companies located in Japan. The BBB system and ECOM have had a similar reciprocal agreement since February, 2002;
• The Korea Consumer Protection Board, which will handle complaints filed by consumer against companies located in Korea; and
• SquareTrade, which will handle complaints filed against companies located in any other country.

About the Council of Better Business Bureaus and BBBOnLine
The Council of Better Business Bureaus has more than 240 leading-edge national corporate members and serves as the umbrella organization (www.bbb.org) for the Better Business Bureaus in the United States and Canada, which are supported by 300,000 business members throughout North America. CBBB also administers the advertising industry's advertising self-regulation program. The first BBB was founded in 1912, and the network of BBBs and the Council have grown to become the most recognized advocate for promoting ethical business and advertising practices, providing more than 41.5 million instances of service to consumers and businesses last year. The BBB system is dedicated to fostering fair and honest relationships between businesses and consumers, instilling consumer confidence and contributing to an ethical business environment, in both the traditional and online marketplaces. Founded in 1997, BBBOnLine (www.bbbonline.org) is a program of the BBB system that helps consumers identify online merchants that meet BBB standards through its Reliability and Privacy "trustmark" programs, and the BBB Code of Online Business Practices. Over 15,000 Web sites have qualified to display one or both of the BBBOnLine trustmarks. Data on BBB dispute resolution activities is available here.

About eConsumer.gov
On April 24, 2001, responding to the challenges of multinational Internet fraud, and working to enhance consumer protection and consumer confidence in e-commerce, thirteen countries unveiled econsumer.gov, a joint effort to gather and share cross-border e-commerce complaints. The project has two components: a multilingual public Web site, and a government, password-protected Web site. The public site provides general information about consumer protection in all countries that belong to the ICPEN (International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network), contact information for consumer protection authorities in those countries, and an online complaint form. All information is available in English, French, German, and Spanish. Using the existing Consumer Sentinel network (a database of consumer complaint data and other investigative information operated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission), the incoming complaints will be shared through the government Web site with participating consumer protection law enforcers. Information on complaint trends filed on the econsumer.gov Web site is available here.