Digital Tagging as an Effective Tool in the Protection of Consumer Rights

In Russia, the government has created the Honest Sign labelling system, which aims to ensure the legal circulation of goods, protect consumer rights, and prevent actions that mislead them. The labelling system helps to not only ensure effective state control (oversight), but also public control with the Honest Sign mobile application, which is used by more than 10 million consumers today. Consumers can send information about violations they find directly to the Honest Sign system, and the control (oversight) body, as represented by the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, can see these ‘signals’ in the personal accounts of its employees and, using various forms of control (oversight), including without interacting with the controlled entities, take response measures envisaged by law to prevent the risk of harm to consumers. In addition, the control (oversight) bodies have the ability to remotely record other violations committed by parties involved in the circulation of goods (violation of established prices, the sale of goods with unregistered labelling codes, the improper status of participants, the circulation of goods with an expired shelf life, etc.), and to focus on working with unscrupulous market participants. What results have already been achieved with labelling? What risk-based approach tools are being used based on the functional capabilities of the labelling system? How is public control developing to protect consumer rights? How can conscientious businessmen help reduce the circulation of illegal products in order to protect consumer rights? How is the labelling system being used to improve business processes in the interests of consumers, including to preclude the technical possibility of products being sold that are illegally introduced into circulation or have an expired shelf life?