It was stated today at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce that the Law on Consumer Protection will bring more responsibilities both to traders and market inspectors, while consumers will have the opportunity to personally participate in the investigation of the allegations in the declaration or bill.

During the presentation of this law in the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce, the Head of the Department of Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Vesna Novaković recalled that the original intention was to consolidate the rules on consumer rights with the new European directives in the field, but the number of proposals and suggestions exceeded amendment, which is why a completely new law was drafted.

“The intention of the proposer of the law was to remove the barriers to the implementation of regulations in this area, which is the main objection to the previous yet still valid law, and to strengthen the institutional framework for its implementation,” explained Novaković.

The essential novelty in the Law on Consumer Protection, which was adopted by the Assembly of Serbia on June 21 and will enter into force on September 21, 2014, are the provisions that require retailers to thoroughly inform the consumer about everything that has to do with their goods or services with the obligation to put up the price per unit of the product, and it specifies everything related to the purchase of technical equipment, said Novaković.

According to her, only the provider of warranty is responsible in that regard while the trader no longer has a responsibility in respect to the warranty.
However, traders will have to respond to every consumer complaint within eight days (previously 15 days) with a proposal as to how to solve the problem, and provide the customers with the opportunity to be present during the control, if there is a doubt that the customer has been misled during the measuring or charging process.
Traders will have to keep records of complaints; these are kept for two years. They need to determine a section in the store for receiving complaints and assign a person for their reception, explained Novaković.

The representative of the Market Inspection, Goran Macura said that the new law expanded the jurisdiction of this inspection and the scope of punishable procedures.
Fines have not been changed and range from 300,000 to two million RSD, and the market inspection will have to make the decision on fining retailers in the future, recalled Macura.