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International Consumer Research & Testing (ICRT) is a global consortium of more than 40 consumer organisations dedicated to carrying out joint research and testing in the consumer interest.
ICRT's principal objectives are to facilitate co-operation between its members and to promote research and testing in the field of consumer goods and services.
ICRT members co-operate in a programme of continuous testing on a wide range of popular consumer products such as digital cameras, mobile phones, television sets, cars, washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and light bulbs.
In addition, there are numerous other smaller collaborative tests, on a whole range of consumer products from anti-wrinkle creams to athletic shoes.
Safety has always been a topic of concern to consumer organisations. ICRT members have played a key role in promoting higher safety standards for consumer goods.
ICRT also facilitates information exchange and testing between members in areas such as food, health, the environment and financial services.
ICRT members join forces with motor clubs with the aim of testing cars, tyres and infant car seats. ICRT is a key player in European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and a similar programme in Latin America.
All ICRT member organisations act exclusively in the consumer interest. They do not accept advertising and are independent of commerce, industry and political parties. Werner Brinkmann is the German member of the board of ICRT. ICRT works closely with the two other international campaigning consumer organisations, to which many ICRT members also belong:
Member organisations range in size from the largest consumer organisations worldwide with memberships between 200,000 and 7 million to smaller organisations with less than 10,000 members.
ICRT's major members are: Which? (United Kingdom), Consumer Reports (United States of America), Stiftung Warentest (Germany), Association des Consommateurs Test Achats (Belgium), Union Fédérale des Consommateurs Que Choisir (France), Consumentenbond (Netherlands). ICRT has member organisations in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa. [1]
ICRT was formally set up as a not for profit association under United Kingdom law in 1990 but it is based on a long tradition of co-operation between independent consumer organisations since the 1960s: [2]
A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation or related systems and components.
The European New Car Assessment Programme is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme based in Leuven, Belgium. Formed in 1996, the first results were released in February 1997. It was originally started by the Transport Research Laboratory for the UK Department for Transport but later backed by several European governments, as well as by the European Union (EU). Their slogan is "For Safer Cars".
Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution.
Godiva Chocolatier is a Belgian-based international chocolate maker which is owned by Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding.
Stiftung Warentest is a German consumer organisation and foundation involved in investigating and comparing goods and services in an unbiased way. It was founded on 4 December 1964 by the Federal Republic of Germany as an independent foundation under civil law. It is based in Berlin. Beyond its subscriber base and media coverage, content from Stiftung Warentest can be disseminated through word of mouth.
European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) is an international nonprofit (vzw) organisation registered in Belgium. It operates from Worting House, Basingstoke, Hampshire.
An automobile safety rating is a grade given by a testing organisation to a motor vehicle indicating the safety of occupants in the event of a motor vehicle crash, like with the New Car Assessment Program.
Euroconsumers: Consumer Organization in Europe, previously known as Conseur - European Consumers, is a private independent multinational corporation, based in Luxembourg, that works in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg and Brazil, representing 1.5 million households.
The Latin New Car Assessment Programme is an automobile safety assessment programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 2010, it offers independent information to consumers about the safety levels of new cars in the market. Latin NCAP tests are based in international renowned methodologies, with vehicles awarded a safety rating between 0 and 5 stars, indicating the protection the cars offer to adult and child occupants. The programme started as a joint initiative and in 2014 it was established as an association under a legal entity framework.
Association belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL v Conseil des ministres (2011) C-236/09, ECLI:EU:C:2011:100, is a decision of the European Court of Justice which invalidated a provision of Directive 2004/113/EC of the European Union which permitted the continence of sexual discrimination in the provision of insurance services provided that it was based on "relevant and accurate actuarial and statistical data." The practical result of the decision was the prohibition of sexual discrimination in insurance policies.
Roland Johannes Hüttenrauch was in charge of Stiftung Warentest, the German consumer organisation in Berlin from 1967 to 1994.
Werner Brinkmann was a German executive who served as the executive director and sole member of the board of Stiftung Warentest till 2011, the German foundation and consumer organisation, which was established in 1964.
Finanztest is a consumer magazine which focuses on providing objective information about financial services. Together with test it is one of the two main publications of Stiftung Warentest, the German foundation and consumer organisation.
The European Consumer Organisation, from the French name Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs, "European Bureau of Consumers' Unions") is an umbrella consumers' group, founded in 1962. Based in Brussels, Belgium, it brings together 45 European consumer organisations from 32 countries.
Test Aankoop (Dutch) or Test Achats (French) is a Belgian non-profit consumer organization which promotes consumer protection. It was founded in 1957 and publishes research in a subscription magazine.
A New Car Assessment Program is a government car safety program tasked with evaluating new automobile designs for performance against various safety threats.
The Swiss Alliance of Consumer Organisations, founded in 2010, is the umbrella organisation of the three Swiss consumer organisations:
specialises in vehicle crashworthiness with a background in accident and injury investigation/analysis.
Green NCAP is a green vehicle assessment programme hosted and supported by the European New Car Assessment Program in cooperation with European Governments. The Organisation has test laboratories in eight European countries and aims to increase awareness of the environmental impact of the vehicles. The first set of results was released on 28 February 2019.
The GlobalNew Car Assessment Programme is a project of the Towards Zero Foundation, a UK-registered charity. The programme aims to promote the sale of safer cars in developing markets by empowering consumers with objective information about the safety of vehicles. Global NCAP supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the target to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030, and the full implementation of the Global Plan for the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety especially the recommended activities for vehicles.