Cambodia has made significant strides in establishing a consumer protection framework; with the establishment of the Law on Consumer Protection in 2019, alongside other relevant laws, such as e-commerce law (2019), competition law (2021), and food safety law (2022). The establishment of the Consumer Protection, Competition, and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) in 2020 under the Ministry of Commerce is a crucial step towards effective enforcement. CCF oversees the implementation of consumer protection laws, handling consumer complaints, and conducting market surveillance to ensure compliance. The National Consumer Protection Programme (NCPP) established in 2022 serves as the key legal and strategic document for all stakeholders to develop policies, action plans, and implementation mechanisms that adhere to the protection of consumer rights and interests. In addition, two consumer associations in food safety and health care sectors are to be established, pending their final registration formalities.
However, challenges remain, particularly in the areas of law enforcement, consumer engagement, and business compliance. Weak enforcement is characterized by the lack of progress benchmarking, which limits understanding of achievements, bridging links, and addressing gaps. Institutional capacity constraints hinder effective implementation and oversight of consumer protection measures. The absence of systematic data collection and monitoring makes it difficult for authorities to track trends, identify systemic problems, and measure the effectiveness of initiatives. This also weakens the complaint resolution mechanism. The rapid growth of digital transformation in businesses and e-commerce presents new challenges, as there are no established guidelines to ensure that online businesses conform to good practices in consumer protection.
Minimal consumer engagement and business compliance exacerbate the problem. Consumer associations remain inactive, leaving a significant gap in collective advocacy efforts. Consumers often lack awareness of their rights and available protection measures, while insufficient advocacy and dissemination of information on consumer protection further reduce visibility and prioritization of these issues. These challenges underscore the need for targeted interventions to strengthen enforcement mechanisms, enhance consumer engagement, and improve business compliance.

This proposed cooperation under the current tender aims to support Cambodia in implementing comprehensive consumer protection measures aligned with international standards and best practices, thereby strengthening enforcement and enhancing consumer rights.
To contribute to improving the enforcement of consumer protection, our support will include preparing a benchmarking study, highlighting the progress achieved over the last five years of implementing the consumer protection law. Addressing the institutional capacity constraints of the CCF will be prioritized through organizational development and change management initiatives to enhance its ability to enforce the law effectively. This will include a detailed assessment of existing workflows, resource allocation, and staff competencies. Based on the findings, tailored capacity-building programs will be implemented, including process optimization and the introduction of best practices in consumer protection enforcement. Robust and easily accessible mechanisms for consumer complaint handling is important. To achieve this, we support the development of IT solutions with key features such as a centralized database of complaints categorized by sector and type of issue; tools for analyzing trends in complaints and identifying frequent offenders; and automated follow-up systems designed to resolve cases efficiently. Moreover, challenges arising from the digital and e-commerce landscape will be addressed through expert support in developing an Online Code and a National Consumer Protection Policy.
To improve consumer engagement and encourage compliance by businesses, our project will design a comprehensive toolkit to improve the visibility and understanding of consumer protection among the public, policymakers, and the private sector. This toolkit will include templates for filing complaints related to products, services, and digital content, complete with pre-defined formats for common scenarios such as defective goods, poor service delivery, and digital content disputes. These templates will guide consumers in structuring their grievances, providing relevant details, supporting evidence, and outlining desired resolutions. By standardizing complaint submissions, the templates will enhance accessibility for consumers, increase processing efficiency for regulatory bodies and businesses, and streamline the information shared with consumer associations. The toolkit will also feature clear guidelines on consumer rights, covering fundamental protections such as safety, privacy, and redress. These guidelines will include easy-to-follow instructions on filing complaints and understanding the resolution process. The information will empower consumers to take action, foster greater awareness of legal responsibilities among businesses, and strengthen advocacy efforts for improved enforcement and policy reform. Additionally, the toolkit will provide a directory of regulatory bodies, detailing their areas of jurisdiction, contact information, and procedures for escalating unresolved complaints. Additional support will be provided to consumer associations to strengthen their advocacy efforts and mainstream consumer protection information to the government. Public-private dialogue events are also planned. We also support a public awareness campaign by the CCF and consumer associations to raise awareness among consumers and businesses about their rights and obligations under the existing consumer protection laws.

GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.

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