About The Swedish Consumers' Association

The Swedish Consumers' Association is the national consumer organisation in Sweden, owner of the consumer test magazine "Råd & Rön – Advice and Results". Our vision is a consumer friendly society for all that are not limiting the possibilities for future generations. We are representing the Swedish consumer interest on national, regional and international level.

The Swedish Consumers' Association strive to:

· Protect the interests of the Swedish consumers in regards to both publicly and privately produced goods and services

· Increase all consumers opportunities to use their consumer power

· Ensure that goods and services available and accessible to everyone

· Advocate sustainability in line with the triple-bottom line; -environmental, economical, social responsibility

· Advocate consumers rights together with the member organizations both nationally, internationally and in the EU

· Stimulate and support individuals to use their consumer power both individually and as groups.

During 2011 and 2012 we work mainly, but not exclusively, with five prioritized areas:

1. Quality of food: Our goal is a wide range of affordable food, good opportunities to make informed choices and easily understandable as well as reliable labelling. Important aspects of our work on quality of food are environmental sustainability, health, social production conditions and animal protection.

2. Personal finance: Our goal is to provide better conditions for consumers to enable a sound financial standing and to provide access to necessary financial services.

3. Consumers rights: Our goal is to maintain the level consumer protection, particularly in anticipation of a final decision on EU consumer rights directives. We also work to strengthen the legal protection of consumer s in relation to services - both private and public.

4. Marketing: We aim to increase awareness and debate about marketing and the effects on consumers. We focus on increased protection against commercial practices aimed at children, not least in regards to new technology and features that make it difficult to distinguish advertising from editorial content. Another particularly important area is pharmaceutical information and marketing.

5. IT, Internet and social media: Our goal is to strengthen consumers' digital rights. Appropriate legislation is needed but also better guidelines for consumers' rights to accessibility and integrity.

All our work shall, when relevant, be based on the following often horizontal priorities: ethical consumption, availability, product safety, integrity, equality and non-discrimination with regards to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, age, sex or gender orientation.