About us

The Estonian Consumer Protection Board was founded in May 1994.

The CPB is a national authority which's main task is to protect the legitimate rights of consumers and to represent their interests, to develop and implement consumer policy in accordance with the provisions of the UN Guidelines, of the Consumer Protection Act and of the European Union consumer policy.

The main rights of consumers are listed in the Consumer Protection Act paragraph 3 as follows:

The consumer has the right to:

• demand a service or a product, which complies with regulations, does not pose a threat to the consumers life, health and property and which is not prohibited to use or posess
• obtain necessary and authentic information for making a conscious choice from among the goods and services supplied
• receive information about the consumers rights and consuming in general
  receive advice and help in case his or hers rights have been violated
• claim for compensation for material and moral damage caused by the vendor
• apply for the consideration of his or hers interests and to be represented through unions and associations in consumer policy decision making

The three most important functions of the Consumer Protection Board are:

• To supervise the consumer market
• To settle consumer complaints
• To inform and advise consumers

The CPB constitutes an inexpensive alternative to the civil courts and the decisions of the Board serve as guidelines for trade enterprises. The CPB supervises the consumer market of goods and services. The Board is entitled to impose fines and prescriptive orders in case of the violation of the CPA and other regulations. Together with other state and local government institutions the Board also monitors the following fields: product safety, misleading advertising, consumer contracts, public services, product-labelling etc.

Consumer Protection Policy

Together with ministries and other institutions the Board participates actively in different working groups that are responsible for drafting legislation. The main priority of legislation drafting activities is harmonisation of legislation with the European Union consumer law.

The CPB works out the consumer protection policy and co-operates actively with the Estonian Consumers' Union and the consumer protection units of local governments.

The Consumer Protection Council was established in May 1995 in order to advise the CPB on consumer policy. It is the main body through which the local governments and voluntary organizations can participate in the decision making process for developing the consumer protection policy on government level.

International Co-operation

The Baltic Co-operation Protocol with Latvia and Lithuania was signed in April 1997. It was the beginning of creating an efficient system of information exchange as well as the exchange of experience in the consumer protection field between Baltic countries.

The Board has good relations with international consumer protection organisations, such as the Consumers International, the Consumer Research Centre at Louvain-la-Neuve University, the Association of Consumer Unions of Germany, and all Nordic Consumer agencies.

Information

A shortcut to advice is the free telephone consulting service, operating on working days. Experts of the CPB provide advice and information about consumer rights, warranties, required labelling, and other safety and marking requirements.

Media relations and press contact is another way of providing information to consumers. The staff of the CPB appears regularly in consumer programmes on radio and TV.

The CPB publishes 1-2 press releases monthly on actual consumer issues and keeps the public informed about the Board's activities, action, and campaigns through press releases.

The Board publishes information leaflets in order to teach consumers to be critical and active and to give them practical tips to make their choices in everyday life.