To supply the requested decision guidelines for the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL), this international comparative study is currently reviewing different approaches and measures in the field of consumer policy that are directed at the realisation of sustainable development. The concepts of 'sustainability' and 'consumer policy' related in this study represent two prominent fields whose dynamics have increased noticeably over the last few years. Within the context of a comparative study, the competing approaches and measures for the establishment of sustainability aspects in consumer policy will be analysed, based on the goals, the motivation and the success exhibited by the governments' engagement in the market. The insights gained in this process will serve to identify criteria for success and the consequential options and recommendations for action as regards German consumer policy. This study also contributes to the closing of research gaps, because up to the present, no political science and systematically comparative studies of sustainable consumer policy or success criteria and idicators have been carried out. The study is targeted especially at two science fields of which only certain aspects will be addressed in detail: sustainability and consumer research.
In consequence of the cross-sectional character of consumer policy and the vision of sustainable development that affects all spheres of life, other policy fields become involved, such as agriculture, energy and transportation. They will be explored as part of the study, according to how much they seek to influence the end-consumer. A further research of other activites of these policiy fields (as the shaping of the relationship between state and economy, the job market and the social systems) would prove difficult due to the limited scope of this study, even though an indirect effect on sustainability policy in the narrower sense cannot be ruled out. This holds true regardless of the fact that international policy processes and especially the European legislation exert considerable influence on the consumer policies of their member states.