The United Nations set a milestone in the development of consumer law when it adopted the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection in 1985 (UNGCP), establishing for the first time a set of international consumer law principles. Since then, with the emergence of the digital era, the landscape has experienced dramatic changes, and consumers have been facing an expanding range of global challenges, especially in the financial services sector. To reflect this changing landscape, new provisions were added by revised Guidelines in 1999 and again in 2015, which included recommendations on good business practices, financial protection and e-commerce. However, the Guidelines are only soft law provisions, as they are not legally binding on Member States. The question therefore arises of how effective they can be in promoting consumer law at the national and global levels. This article will argue that a comprehensive international consumer law framework is essential in the current context, and that there has been some advancement towards this since the adoption of the Guidelines. However, while the United Nations is playing a unique role in promoting an inclusive and broad consumer protection approach, it sometimes lacks the legal powers and resources to ensure the full effectiveness of its Guidelines. The article thus examines the evolution of consumer protection at the international level, assessing the legal landscape and key players in the field. It outlines the increasing involvement of the United Nations in the area of consumer protection, analysing the core features of the revised Guidelines and their implications, and concludes by suggesting avenues for future development.

中文翻译：

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联合国消费者保护指南：法律影响和新前沿

联合国于 1985 年通过了《联合国消费者保护准则》（UNGCP），首次确立了一套国际消费者法原则，从而为消费者法的发展树立了一个里程碑。此后，随着数字时代的到来，格局发生了翻天覆地的变化，消费者面临着越来越多的全球挑战，尤其是在金融服务领域。为反映这种不断变化的格局，1999 年和 2015 年修订的指导方针增加了新的规定，其中包括关于良好商业惯例、财务保护和电子商务的建议。然而，这些指导方针只是软性法律条款，因为它们对会员国没有法律约束力。因此，问题在于它们在国家和全球层面促进消费者法的有效性如何。本文将论证，在当前背景下，一个全面的国际消费者法框架是必不可少的，并且自该指南采用以来，在这方面已经取得了一些进展。然而，虽然联合国在促进包容性和广泛的消费者保护方法方面发挥着独特的作用，但它有时缺乏确保其准则充分有效的法律权力和资源。因此，本文研究了国际层面消费者保护的演变，评估了该领域的法律格局和主要参与者。它概述了联合国越来越多地参与消费者保护领域，