International Consumer Research & Testing
Encyclopedia
International Consumer Research & Testing (ICRT) is a global consortium
of more than 40 consumer organisations dedicated to carrying out joint research and testing in the consumer interest.
ICRT’s principal objectives are to facilitate co-operation between its members and to promote research and testing in the field of consumer good
s and service
s. ICRT sets out clear guidelines for successful collaboration, increases the cost effectiveness of testing and helps smaller consumer organisations to grow.
s, mobile phone
s, television set
s, car
s, washing machine
s, dishwasher
s, vacuum cleaner
s and light bulbs.
In addition, there are numerous other smaller collaborative tests, on a whole range of consumer products from anti-wrinkle creams to athletic shoe
s.
Safety
has always been a topic of concern to consumer organisations. ICRT members have played a key role in promoting higher safety standards for consumer goods.
ICRT also facilitates information exchange and testing between members in areas such as food
, health
, the environment
and financial services.
ICRT members join forces with motor club
s with the aim of testing cars, tyre
s and infant car seat
s. ICRT is a key player in European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and a similar programme in Latin America
.
and are independent of commerce
, industry
and political parties
.
Member organisations range in size from the largest consumer organisations worldwide with memberships between 200,000 and 7 million to smaller organisations with less than 10,000 members.
ICRT’s major members are: Which?
(United Kingdom
), Consumers Union
Consumer Reports
(United States of America), Stiftung Warentest
(Germany
), Association des Consommateurs Test Achats (Belgium
), Union Fédérale des Consommateurs - Que Choisir (France
), Consumentenbond (Netherlands
). ICRT has member organisations in Europe
, Asia Pacific, Latin America
and Africa
.
Werner Brinkmann
is the German member of the Board
of ICRT.
ICRT works closely with the two other international campaigning consumer organisations, to which many ICRT members also belong:
ICRT pursues this mission by:
law in 1990 but it is based on a long tradition of co-operation between independent consumer organisations since the 1960s.
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
of more than 40 consumer organisations dedicated to carrying out joint research and testing in the consumer interest.
ICRT’s principal objectives are to facilitate co-operation between its members and to promote research and testing in the field of consumer good
Good
Good may refer to:* Good and evil - The distinction between positive and negative entities* Good - Objects produced for market* Form of the Good - Plato's macrocosmic view of goodness in living* Good...
s and service
Service
In economics, a service is an intangible commodity. More specifically, services are an intangible equivalent of economic goods.Service provision is often an economic activity where the buyer does not generally, except by exclusive contract, obtain exclusive ownership of the thing purchased...
s. ICRT sets out clear guidelines for successful collaboration, increases the cost effectiveness of testing and helps smaller consumer organisations to grow.
ICRT Tests
ICRT members co-operate in a programme of continuous testing on a wide range of popular consumer products such as digital cameraDigital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s, mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s, television set
Television set
A television set is a device that combines a tuner, display, and speakers for the purpose of viewing television. Television sets became a popular consumer product after the Second World War, using vacuum tubes and cathode ray tube displays...
s, car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s, washing machine
Washing machine
A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...
s, dishwasher
Dishwasher
A dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishes and eating utensils. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes.Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies largely on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, typically between ...
s, vacuum cleaner
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...
s and light bulbs.
In addition, there are numerous other smaller collaborative tests, on a whole range of consumer products from anti-wrinkle creams to athletic shoe
Athletic shoe
Athletic shoe is a generic name for the footwear primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise but in recent years has come to be used for casual everyday activities....
s.
Safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
has always been a topic of concern to consumer organisations. ICRT members have played a key role in promoting higher safety standards for consumer goods.
ICRT also facilitates information exchange and testing between members in areas such as food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
and financial services.
ICRT members join forces with motor club
Motor club
Motor clubs are organizations, either for-profit or non-profit, which motorists can join to enjoy certain benefits provided by the club relating to driving a vehicle. There is typically an annual membership fee to join...
s with the aim of testing cars, tyre
Tyre
Tyre is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. There were approximately 117,000 inhabitants in 2003, however, the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932, so an accurate statistical accounting is not possible...
s and infant car seat
Infant car seat
An infant safety seat, also known as a child safety seat, a child restraint system, a restraint car seat, and, ambiguously, commonly known as a car seat, is a restraint which is secured to the seat of an automobile equipped with safety harnesses to hold an infant or small stature people in the...
s. ICRT is a key player in European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and a similar programme in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
ICRT Members
All ICRT member organisations act exclusively in the consumer interest. They do not accept advertisingAdvertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and are independent of commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
, industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
and political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
.
Member organisations range in size from the largest consumer organisations worldwide with memberships between 200,000 and 7 million to smaller organisations with less than 10,000 members.
ICRT’s major members are: Which?
Which?
Which? is a product-testing and consumer campaigning charity with a magazine, website and various other services run by Which? Ltd ....
(United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
), Consumers Union
Consumers Union
Consumers Union is a non-profit organization best known as the publisher of Consumer Reports, based in the United States. Its mission is to "test products, inform the public, and protect consumers."...
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union since 1936. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It also publishes cleaning and general buying guides...
(United States of America), Stiftung Warentest
Stiftung Warentest
Stiftung Warentest is a German consumer organisation and foundation involved in investigating and comparing goods and services in an unbiased way. It was founded on 4th. December 1964 by the Federal Republic of Germany as an independent foundation under civil law. It is based in Berlin.- Aims and...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Association des Consommateurs Test Achats (Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), Union Fédérale des Consommateurs - Que Choisir (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Consumentenbond (Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
). ICRT has member organisations in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia Pacific, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Werner Brinkmann
Werner Brinkmann
Werner Brinkmann is the Executive Director and sole member of the Board of Stiftung Warentest, the German foundation and consumer organisation, which was established in 1964.-Early life and education:...
is the German member of the Board
Board
-Flat surface:* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat** See :Category:Engineered wood** Cutting board** Sounding board, of a musical instrument* Cardboard* Paperboard*Corrugated fiberboard*Fiberboard*Particle board, also known as chipboard...
of ICRT.
ICRT works closely with the two other international campaigning consumer organisations, to which many ICRT members also belong:
- BEUC - Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs
- CI - Consumers InternationalConsumers InternationalConsumers International is the world federation of consumer groups that serves as the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers...
Mission
ICRT mission is to be the world-leading organisation that empowers its members to provide high quality and independent information to consumers worldwide.ICRT pursues this mission by:
- Increasing the cost effectiveness of testing through the coordination of international joint tests and research
- Providing a comprehensive legal framework for joint testing with established rules and guidelines
- Developing common test programmes and evaluationEvaluationEvaluation is systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards.Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice,...
methods - Helping smaller organisations to grow through a program of capacity building and knowledge sharing
History
ICRT was formally set up as a not for profit association under United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
law in 1990 but it is based on a long tradition of co-operation between independent consumer organisations since the 1960s.
- 1968 – The first joint tests between the Dutch and Belgian organisations included hairdryers, dishwashers, stereo receivers and model trains. A test of hotels in Majorca was also joined by Germany.
- 1972 – The name European Testing Group (ETG) was adopted.
- 1974 – By now twelve organisations were attending ETG meetings including those from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK, France, DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. - 1982 – ETG Secretariat moved to LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and an increasing number of collaboarative tests were carried out each year - 1990 – A new organisation – International Consumer Research & Testing was created to formalise the arrangements of the ETG.
- 1991 – First European Commission (EC)-funded project “Comparative Testing in Europe” completed. This laid the basis for discussion about future ICRT EC-funded comparative testing projects.
- 1992 – First ICRT Guidelines issued
- 1995 – ICRT became a founder member of the Euro NCAP crash test programme
- 1999 – Guido Adriaenssens appointed CEO. ICRT now has 26 members
- 2002 – Nordic Testing Group formed.
- 2004 – Consumers Union (USA) joins ICRT, Asia-Pacific Regional Group met for the first time
- 2007–2010 Capacity building in new EU Member States lead to formation of Central & Eastern Europe Regional Group in 2010
- 2008 – Worldwide test on breakfast cerealBreakfast cerealA breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
s published – joined by 30 partners - 2010 – Latin NCAP launched
- 2011 – ICRT has 43 member organisations, launch of Global NCAP