Countries of the world
This page is for accumulating country information of specific usefullness for Consumerium Services. Also this page serves the purpose of forming a Country template for use in Content Wiki once we figure out what information can be reliably collected.
See w:List of countries for general information on countries of the world.
Here be the current skeleton
- Workers' rights - The right to belong to labor unions de jure? (in law or in theory), de facto? (in practice, day-to-day custom)
- Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES/NO/Not determined
- Ecological integrity and damage, e.g. charcoal deforestation in Haiti, tantallum deforestation and ape extinction in Congo and Indonesia
- ...
Africa
Kenya
Mauritania
w:Mauritania has the highest prevalence of w:slavery in the world despite passing an anti-slavery law in 2007 after sizable international pressure. Read more in w:Slavery in Mauritania.
South Africa
- Fairtrade organisation: Fairtrade South Africa
Asia
Australia
- http://www.choice.com.au/ - Australia's oldest consumer empowerment effort
- http://guide.ethical.org.au - An ethical consumer guide and more
- http://ethicalconsumer.org.au/ - Ethical Consumers Australia (ECA) nonprofit association has various functions and projects. They have made The Good on You App which is available for Android and iOS for the clothing shopping consumer.
- http://www.ethicalliving.net.au/ Providing ethically sourced ethnical handicrafted via webshop with principles of fair trade.
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
- http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html Australian Securities and Investments Commission Limited company search on-line.
China
Workers' rights in China
Trade unions are forbidden by law in China according to the Finnish media.
Hong Kong
India
Japan
- "Earth Reforesting System" - not sure if this is going to work, but, at least they started with mediawiki, so maybe they are just waiting for others to chip in, just like Consumerium did. Mostly in Japanese.
New Zealand
Pakistan
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
- http://www.pakboi.gov.pk/html/all_companies.html The Pakistan Board of Investment - Companies, searchable online by name, registered capital, CEO and other options
South Korea
- Fairtrade organisation: Fairtrade South-Korea
Workers' rights in South Korea Apparently the workers' situation in South Korea is terrible. There are reports of trade union activists commiting suicide to attract attention to the workers' rights situation in South Korea. see Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) web site for more information
South Korea has probably the longest workweeks in all the developed world with 6-day weeks with 44 hours average working time. There have been rumours that South Korea will be switching to 5-day working week in 2005 but there is yet no confirmation on whether this is true.
Turkmenistan
w:Turkmenistan has a sizeable w:forced labour problem in their w:cotton industry.
Europe
Austria
- Fairtrade organisation: yes
Belgium
- Fairtrade organisation: http://fairtradebelgium.be/
Czech Republic
Denmark
- Fairtrade organisation Fairtrade Denmark
Estonia
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes. Fairtrade Estonia
- Traveler router coverage?: Yes. Nation-wide. Multimodal Peatus.ee
- Peer-to-peer carsharing?: Yes. Autolevi (.ee)]
Finland
- Inventions: Sauna, molotov cocktail, irc, GNU/Linux and ssh
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes. http://www.reilukauppa.fi/
- Traveler router coverage? Yes. Nation-wide. Multimodal Matka.fi plus more
- Carpooling services?: Yes. list
- w:Peer-to-peer carsharing?: Yes. https://www.shareitbloxcar.fi/
- Carsharing service coverage?: peer-to-peer and traditional carsharing exist in the Metropolitan Helsinki area list
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
- http://www.prh.fi/en.html National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (Patentti ja rekisterihallitus) Handles registrations for companies, associations, foundations and patents. Limited online company, association and trademark searches available for free
Consumer empowerment efforts in Finland
- http://kulutusjuhla.fi/ ( Consumption Celebration ) which inherited the now defunct Consumer Gadget association's funds
Reducing, reusing and recycling in Finland
- https://vahankaytetty.fi/ - online 2nd hand market. If you want to sell items (mostly clothing) you can send them to vahankaytetty.fi and they take care of selling and mailing the products to the buyers.
- https://zadaa.co/ - online 2nd hand marketplace that works via smartphone app. Also in Denmark and Germany.
Wikipedia articles about things in Finland
France
Germany
Inventions: Printing press, intermodal public transport route planner
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes. http://www.fairtrade-deutschland.de/index.php
Ireland
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
- http://www.cro.ie/search/ - Companies Registration Office of Ireland - Limited online search of companies
Italy
Latvia
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes.: The use of the Fairtrade emblem in Latvia is overseen by Fairtrade Finland
Lithuania
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes.: Fairtrade Lithuania
- Minciu Sodas open laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers
Luxemburg
Netherlands
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
Norway
Portugal
Slovakia
Sweden
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes.:Fairtrade organisation: http://www.raettvist.se/
Registered companies searchable in Internet? YES
- http://www.prv.se/eng/ Swedish Patent and Registration Office covers Companies, Trademarks, Patents and People. Limited online company and trademark searches available for free
Switzerland
- Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International member?: Yes.:Fairtrade organisation: http://www.maxhavelaar.ch
United Kingdom
Recycling in the UK
- The UK does not currently have a deposit and reverse vending systems for beverage containers, but this could change in the future according to this BBC.com article 'UK 'could adopt' Norway bottle recycling system'
North and Middle America
Canada
- http://www.ecocentricguide.ca/ blogging and marketing about all things ecolo. webshop plus physical outlets via cooperating businesses.
- http://www.ethicaldirectory.ca/ - Green & Ethical Businesses == Good Business
Registered companies searchable in Internet? Not determined
Haiti
Registered companies searchable in Internet? Not determined, highly unlikely
Ecological questions
- Deforestation problem from charcoal production
Mexico
USA
- Fairtrade organisation: http://www.fairtradeusa.org/
- http://www.goodguide.com/- Ethical shopping guide webgui and app give a 0 to 10 scale rating for for health, environment, and social impact. App only for iOS. That ain't very ethical towards Android OS users.
- National Retail Federation / Association for Retail Technology Standards - Their XML schema covers the following issues: Item & Price Maintenance - Merchandise Flow Management - Inventory Management - Tender Control - Adminstration - Reporting - Ordering - Workforce Management - Customer Relationship Management
South America
Brazil
External links
- https://www.embassypages.com/ - contact information for embassies and consulates of the world