Its first meeting took place on 17 and 18 October 2016 in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) The UNGCP were adopted by consensus in 1985.
In July 2012, the First Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Consumer Protection decided that UNCTAD should begin a consultation process on the revision UNGCP.
As a result of this consultation and call for contributions, the UNCTAD secretariat produced the Implementation Report on the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (1985 - 2013).
[2] The Second Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Consumer Protection, held in July 2013 under the French Presidency, discussed the Implementation Report and its conclusions, and proposed the creation of four Working Groups (on e-commerce, financial services, other issues and implementation) that would feed into the UNCTAD Secretariat report, Modalities for the Revision of the UNGCP, to be submitted to the VII UN Review Conference to Review all Aspect of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices.
In July 2013, the Third Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Consumer Protection, discussed the Modalities Report and its conclusions, plus further issues that were highlighted by member States and stakeholders as candidates for a proposed inclusion in the revision of the UNGCP.
The Seventh United Nations Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, which was held in Geneva from 6 to 10 July 2015, adopted by unanimity the Draft Resolution on consumer protection and the revised UNGCP and invited "the General Assembly of the United Nations, at its seventieth Session in 2015, to consider the adoption of the Draft Resolution on Consumer Protection and the revised United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection as annexed to this resolution.
The 2015 revision (see section VII, paras 95-99) sets up institutional mechanisms for monitoring compliance with the UNGCP, under the supervision of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy, which is to be held under the auspices of UNCTAD.