EnfTech at UNCTAD Research Partnership Platform

We presented our latest work on EnfTech at the annual UN gathering of consumer protection agencies and competition authorities his week. The UNCTAD Research Partnership Platform, which takes place after the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection meeting, is designed to share research in consumer protection and competition amongst national agencies.

During a panel on the Enforcement of Consumer Protection, Liz and Christine presented the findings from their upcoming research report on EnfTech and how a technological approach to enforcement has the potential to not only speed up enforcement tasks but potentially revolutionise the way that it is done.

EnfTech in Practice

EnfTech describes the use of technology by enforcement agencies to deliver investigations, surveillance, preventative measures, remedies and/or sanctions. During the session we shared case studies showing the range of technological applications already in use by consumer protection authorities for various tasks including:

• ACCC’s Scamwatch in Australia is trialling the use of an established private enforcement software tool used to scan and request the takedown of malicious websites for consumer facing purposes. The agencies tested the automated detection service to see how helpful it could be in identifying features of potential scam activity such as fraudulent domains.

• The Authority for Consumers and Markets in the Netherlands have built a tool in-house which can scan many hundreds of websites to see which contain countdown timers, which can then be checked by staff to see if they break misleading price rules.

•  The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) Colombia has developed an Integrated Sanction System. This data analysis tool is fed with factors about a business and its infringement and can then calculate a proportionate and dissuasive fine.

Building in cross-border capability

EnfTech grew out of a international research project on the Cross-border enforcement of consumer protection as a potential tool to help remove friction from the onerous process of enforcing consumer laws across borders.

Working with intergovernmental bodies like UNCTAD can help speed up capacity building and the development of enforcement technology tools, and avoid duplication of effort. Building in shared data formats and interoperability of tools at the outset will also increase its potential to be useful in cross-border enforcement.

All of these examples and many more can be found in the upcoming report on EnfTech. Until then, you can see the slide deck presented at UNCTAD here.