Statssekretær Kirsti Bergstøs tale til den internasjonale forbukerkonferansen PERL

Ministers, UNEP and UNESCO representatives, researchers, teachers, Ladies and Gentlemen 

It is a great pleasure and honor for me to open this PERL conference here in Istanbul, at Maltepe University. It is a wonderful and interesting city, which I have had the pleasure to experience this weekend.

We, as consumers can at times feel powerless toward a company's superiority in understanding information, and also sometimes our inability to feel that we can influence the market.The goal of the Norwegian government, which I represent, is therefore to safeguard consumer's rights.

Which is one of the reasons why the Norwegian Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion has decided to continue our support to the PERL partnership for this first period. We have supported the predecessor, CCN Network from the early beginning, in 1993. We are grateful for the funding CCN and PERL has been granted throughout EUs Erasmus program throughout these years. And of course we appreciate the close partnership from various international organizations, like UNEP, UNESCO, Consumers International and the Italian and Swedish Marrakech Process Task Force. This reflects the great importance of the issues that constitutes the PERL project! 

Our government declaration builds on the principle of sustainable development, the precautionary approach, and solidarity with coming generations. PERL goes to the core of these issues. It seeks to establish the concepts and tools that our children will need in order to face the challenges of sustainable development. Sustainable development is one of our top priorities in consumer policy, with consumer education and information as the most important tools.

The educational system should be a counterweight to the commercial pressure and culture we are facing in our societies. Consumer education needs to stem the commercial pressure and raise awareness and the deeper understanding on how we are influenced by market forces. We need to provide our children and young adults with the sound judgement and knowledge about consequences of both positive and negative individual choices and lifestyle.

Information is one of the key measures in Norwegian consumer policy. We want to make it easy to choose ethical and environmental when shopping. To have relevant and adequate information is a prerequisite for acting as responsible consumers.

Product labeling can be confusing for the consumer, because of the numerous green and ethical labels all representing diverse aspects and claiming to be the right choice. A recent study in Norway has shown that the consumers feel confused by the multiplicity of labels, but at the same time find labeling helpful.

The consumers are dependent on the information from the producers to be able to make good choices. There has been a positive development in that CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) increasingly is being integrated in business strategy. Our ministry was a part of the Norwegian delegation actively involved in the ISO process towards the ISO 26000 Guidance on social responsibility. This management and leadership standard encourages the implementation of best practice in social responsibility for private and public sector organization worldwide. We take a great interest in following the national implementations that have just started. 

Another area that deserves our attention is public procurement. I believe that the public sector should take the lead by purchasing goods that have been manufactured in accordance with the highest ethical and environmental standards. In this way the sector can build confidence in its procurement processes and use its resources efficiently.

In Norway, an Action Plan for Environmental and Social Responsibility in Public Procurement has been implemented with this in mind, with particular emphasis on guidance, capacity-building and practical advice. The consumer department of our ministry is responsible for the follow-up of this work, and will review whether social considerations should be made compulsory in public procurement. 

These are all elements of an increasing awareness and responsibility. Still, the individual consumer constitutes the market. In the PERL programme you have pointed out that individuals must not only have relevant knowledge, but also the will to contribute to change. Information initiatives will not be sufficient alone and needs to be supported by educational initiatives.

PERL is making an important contribution in developing policy documents, curricula, teaching methods and materials. It enables educational institutions all over the world in building the capacity to meet the sustainability challenges with the best pedagogic tools and materials.

Speaking for the Nordic countries, it has inspired several changes in our approach to consumer education. Teaching Consumer Competences – A strategy for Consumer Education - is a common Nordic and Estonian document, published last autumn. It is meant as a practical follow-up of the OECDs policy recommendation on Consumer education. One of the key aspects of our new approach is to ensure that the dimension of sustainable consumption is taken into consideration in every aspect of consumer education – whether the focus is on economy, private finances, advertising and media or the home environment. This is of course inspired by the approach you have always had in CCN and Perl, and more directly by Victoria Thoresen impressing work and personal effort to promote these important issues.

PERL has inspired the Nordic approach, and I am confident that the project will have an impact in other countries. I applaud the ambitions and the achievements of PERL on behalf of my government and on behalf of everyone present.

I would like to convey my appreciation also to the Turkish host for offering this great location and atmosphere for the PERL conference of 2011! Your program for the conference is focusing on how all parts of a society can contribute to sustainable development, and how we can enable each individual to be responsible.

We need to continue to promote the need for moral and social responsibility from individual perspective up to the global perspective. The environmental aspects of our consumer culture needs to be reflected in our individual choices but also in our national and international policies. The production of consumer goods in low cost countries requires us to ask for the same environmental standards in the production, and the same rights and opportunities for the workers, as we do at home. The globalization of the economy challenges all parts of our societies, companies and consumers, to demand transparency and equal rights.

I believe that we need to continue to build partnership between public and private sector in order to be able to achieve the changes that are needed for a sustainable future. However, it is decisive that the young generation will have the will-power and judgement needed for long-term changes and responsibility. The challenge is to find good solutions and partnerships, and I believe that PERL and this conference will contribute that way. I know how hard it can be to make alliances between political parties or even between closely related government departments. But I think we need to make a real effort to break some institutional and cultural barriers, and go for a binding dialogue!  I am looking forward to be inspired throughout these two days, and expect that we will see a number of new ideas for good partnership coming up.  

Thank you for the attention, and good luck to all of us with the rest of this important conference!