Consumer initiative

The consumer initiative e. V. (Federal Association) is a consumer association founded in 1985 with headquarters in Berlin . The main focus of the association is ecological, health and social consumer work .

Goals and mission statement

As a lobby for critical consumers, the association advocates the ecological , health and socially responsible production of goods. In doing so, he relies on consumer power. He is based on the premise that consumers have an influence on every purchase and decide which products, which companies and which shopping channels will be successful in the future. The consumer initiative provides (company) independent information about the background of production and the markets and shows consumers options for action. The consumer initiative represents the model of the "responsible, responsible and informed consumer".

organization

The association is a German non-governmental organization and is headed by a three-person, voluntary federal board who is elected for two years. In December 2017 the following were re-elected:

Chair: Bettina Knothe
Treasurer: Erik Hildenbrand
Assessor: Monika Düngenheim

The association maintains an office in Berlin. The Federal Managing Director is Georg Abel. Around 7,000 individual members and 176 organizations support the association.

Finances

The association does not receive any basic state funding. It is financed through membership fees from individuals, donations, project money and surpluses from the association's own consumer initiative Service GmbH. The consumer initiative is recognized as a non-profit .

history

The association emerged as part of the environmental movement in the 1980s. It was founded in 1985 in Bonn . In 1999 the headquarters were initially partially relocated to Berlin in 2001 and then completely.

In 1985 the association began to publish the magazine "ConsumCritik - information service for conscious consumption". In the meantime, the consumer initiative publishes the members' magazine “Consumer Concrete” on a quarterly basis as well as a monthly thematic issue. The federal association also maintains various thematic websites.

Activities and projects

The association is active in selected areas of consumer protection. The information offered includes internet portals and databases. Other offers are radio reports, special issues, annual calendars and leaflets. Membership services include: a. thematic advice as well as legal advice and the online course “healthy eating”. Examples of consumer initiative projects are:

Blue Angel campaign

For the 30th anniversary of the world's first and oldest environmental label, the Blue Angel , the Consumer Initiative 2007/08 developed a regional information campaign in cooperation with the Environment and Consumers Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia , the German Association of Cities and the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center. The aim was to increase awareness of the sign, which has served as a shopping aid for environmentally friendly shopping since 1978.

Fair feels good - campaign for fair trade

From 2003 to 2007, the consumer initiative in cooperation with Transfair e. V., the Weltladen-Dachverband e. V. and the Forum Fairer Handel e. V. runs the nationwide information campaign “fair feels good”, which was financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as part of the 2015 action program .

The campaign provided information about the principles, products and socio-political backgrounds of fair trade through actions and events . The prominent advocates of “fair feels good” included u. a. Otto Waalkes , Georg Uecker , Peter Sodann , Sonja Fuss , Nina Petri and Claus Theo Gärtner . Franziska van Almsick took over the patronage .

Label-online.de

With the Internet offer Label - Online , one of the world's largest label databases, the consumer initiative wants to provide information about eco, social and service labels used in Germany and to provide a comprehensive overview of the variety of product labels . The consumer initiative tested and evaluated around 700 labels ( environmental labels , test marks , quality seals , own brands, etc.). For this purpose, a standardized evaluation matrix was developed that was revised in a stakeholder process in 2013, which makes this procedure comprehensible and transparent. The search engine has established itself as an information pool for consumers, multipliers and journalists. An app has been available since April 2014.

Oeko-fair.de

The association works to ensure that the concepts of “eco” and “fair” grow closer together in the consciousness of manufacturers and consumers. Oeko-fair.de offers consumers and multipliers background information on all aspects of “eco-fair trading” in various areas of everyday life. The aim of the offer is to promote sustainable consumer behavior through reports on products, activities and organizations that advocate ecological, socially just or eco-fair ( consumption ) alternatives. The services offered by the portal also include an eco-fair business directory .

Corporate responsibility (English: Corporate Social Responsibility , CSR)

In the project "Environmental and Social Responsibility of Retail Companies - More Transparency through Consumer Information", the association developed in close cooperation with the Öko-Institut e. V. in 2008 criteria for environmental and social responsibility in retail, which served as the basis for an industry-specific questionnaire. In the subsequent projects “Corporate Dialogue and Consumer Information” and “Environmental and Social Responsibility at Brand Companies and Retailers”, companies from other sectors and product manufacturers were surveyed. The results of the nationwide surveys can be viewed on the Sustainable Shopping website . Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for illustration. The CSR projects aim to create a solid basis for consumers to find their way around the variety of companies and products and thus to be able to make sustainable purchase decisions .

Consumer events for seniors

Tailored to the "generation 60+", the association has been organizing half-day senior consumer conferences in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg since 2008 and 2009, respectively, on the topics of health, internet, energy and rip-offs. More than 100 events were held by mid-2017.

Memberships and cooperations

The association cooperates with a large number of organizations and is a member of numerous networks and forums. These include Grüner Strom Label , Transfair and the Association of Oecotrophologists .

In selected cases, the federal association also cooperates with companies; there has been a regular exchange with dm-drogerie Markt since the 1990s . The consumer initiative is a member of various advisory boards such as the Pro Planet advisory board of the REWE Group .

Consumer Initiative Service GmbH

Consumer Initiative Service GmbH, founded in Berlin in 1990, is a 100 percent subsidiary of the association. It provides services for the association and external clients (ministries, etc.). Erik Hildenbrand and Georg Abel are the managing directors.