Consumers expect WTO rulings to take into account the results of the work of competent organisations in terms of consumer and health protection, environmental protection and animal welfare, and also in establishing social standards. World trade regulations should neither weaken nor circumvent these achievements. This also applies to the fundamental consumer rights internationally recognised by the UN member countries. If the WTO succeeds in this and in its efforts to effectively bring about democratisation and transparency, public support for this organisation, which has so far been lacking, could also grow. Individual issues Agriculture European consumers are critical of the EU's current common agricultural policy, as it is primarily producer-orientated and gives too little consideration to consumer, environmental and social aspects.
Consumers also reject the protectionism which exists in agriculture.
They therefore demand that price supports, i.e. all types of export refund, be abandoned. This relates not only to such supports within the EU's common agricultural policy, but also in other WTO member countries. As protectionism is further dismantled, consumers expect not only lower prices but fair prices. They want a form of agriculture in which production is environmentally friendly and the quality of foodstuffs is not sacrificed to economic demands. It is also important to safeguard competition in the upstream market, for example in the seed market, in order to avoid a small number of companies taking control of the market, with negative consequences for producers.