Nidhi Khare Elected Chairperson at UNCTAD Consumer Protection Meeting in Geneva

Nidhi Khare, an IAS officer serving as Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, has been elected Chairperson of the Ninth Session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The session is being held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from July 6 to July 8, 2026. The Intergovernmental Group of Experts is UNCTAD's dedicated forum for member states to coordinate on consumer protection legislation, cross-border enforcement cooperation and policy standards, meeting periodically to review implementation of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection.

Khare's election to chair the session gives India a leadership role in shaping the discussions at a forum where consumer protection frameworks from different jurisdictions are compared and harmonised. As Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, she has been overseeing India's own regulatory architecture on consumer rights, including enforcement actions against misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices.

Her chairmanship of the Geneva session comes as several countries are updating consumer protection frameworks to address e-commerce and digital marketplace disputes, an area where India's own Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has introduced specific provisions. The three-day session is expected to conclude with recommendations that member states, including India, will consider for their domestic frameworks going into subsequent review cycles.

The Intergovernmental Group of Experts brings together consumer protection regulators, competition authorities and government representatives from across UNCTAD's member states to compare enforcement approaches on issues ranging from misleading advertising to product safety and cross-border e-commerce complaints. India's Department of Consumer Affairs has in recent years pursued a more visible international role in this space, and Khare's election as Chairperson gives the department a formal platform to influence the session's recommendations rather than participating solely as a member delegation.