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As one of the sixteen, in each Bundesland (federal state) existing consumer associations in Germany, we are an independent, non-profit organisation, largely public financed and carried by above 40 regional consumer-oriented associations. With a staff of about 500 employees, a budget around 25 Million EUR and 4 million consumer contacts a year, we are one of the most powerful consumer organisations in Europe.
We are charactarised by the existence of 54 local consumer advice centres, spread in the cities throughout Nordrhein-Westfalen (17 million inhabitants). Here, people get information as well as support in case of complaints in nearly all consumer concerns, e.g: financial services and insurances, debt clearing and household budgeting, health and nutrition, environment protection and energy saving, domestic appliances and housing, media and telecommunication services, etc.
The experts in our backoffice in the regional capital Duesseldorf guarantee a high quality standard not only for the consumer information and advice, but also in developing campaigns and strategies concerning consumer education, legal protection and the representation of consumer interests towards stakeholders in policy and economy. The impact of our activities is strongly supported by an intensive press.
We complete our services with a central Call Centre, a detailed website, including a special site addressing young people and a large range of publications on consumer topics. Through several projects, we are linked to associations and developments on a European level.
Independent scientific studies have carried out that citizens have a large confidence in our organisation and work. We are thus able to give answers to topics requested by consumers as well as to push forward desirable consumer patterns in less requested areas.
This is for example the case concerning sustainable consumption. We address consumers with campaigns to convince them e.g. of the advantages of regional food products, waste avoidance or energy saving. Our acceptance in the population as well as our local presence through the advice centres are the key for success of such activities.
Moreover, we achieve herewith measurable effects on the regional development: evaluations have shown that non-negligible investments result e.g. from an energy saving consultancy – for the regional quality suppliers’ benefit.
For more information see www.verbraucherzentrale-nrw.de.