Acción del Consumidor (ADELCO)

Claudia Collado is currently president of ADELCO, the oldest consumer organization in Argentina and Latin America. She is a lawyer graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, and Professor in Legal, Political and Social Sciences from the University of Río Cuarto, Argentina. She has worked on consumer protection issues since 1991, first in ADELCO's legal team and then as a member of Consumers International’s Latin American & Caribbean Office, working on public services. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Argentine Accreditation Body, and a member of the Council of IRAM, the standards bureau. Her experience in consumer protection spans across public services, gender, food, standards and product safety, corporate social responsibility, legislation development and sustainability. She has been a university professor and collaborated in the creation of two Latin American consumer organizations, and has taught in numerous seminars, workshops and training courses around the world.

ADELCO is a membership-based consumer organisation with local branches in Bahia Blanca, Tucuman, Rosario, Concepcion del Uruguay, Villa Maria and Santa Fe. It was established 27 years ago. ADELCO carries out product testing and research and policy analysis as evidenced by its recent energy policy paper. It also represents consumer interests in relevant forums and government bodies such as the MERCOSUR Socio-economic Consultative Forum. They are active in areas relating to consumer education, the environment, health, housing and market surveillance. Besides its website, ADELCO publishes a magazine 'El Ojo del Consumidor' on a bi-monthly basis.