The sharing economy connects consumers to people who have products or services to sell, hire or lease via an online platform. It includes services such as Airbnb and Uber. An ISO International Workshop Agreement (IWA) aims to provide the foundation on which more standardisation solutions to support the sharing economy can be built. ISO COPOLCO supported the development of the IWA and Consumers Federation of Australia has representatives on the COPOLCO Mirror Committee at Standards Australia
If you buy or hire goods and services through an online marketplace or sharing economy platform, you are protected by the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) if things go wrong, in the same way as you would be if you were to buy in-store – Find out how here. The ACCC has tips for using sharing economy services here including reporting an issue.
Want to find out more about becoming a consumer representative on a Standards Technical committee – look here