We Need a Holistic Consumer Protection Strategy Author: Jadranka Dabovic - Anastasovska, PhD, Faculty of Law "Iustinianus Primus"
AM: In your opinion, what are the major challenges faced by Macedonia’s current consumer protection framework?
JDA: Efficient and effective protection and enforcement of laws in practice is the biggest challenge. Even though there are laws, governmental & judiciary bodies, we as consumers sometimes feel robbed or unprotected.
Continuous education of all involved in the protection of consumer rights is also lacking. There are constant efforts in this direction, but they have proven insufficient. Manufacturers, vendors and service providers need education through chambers of commerce and other associations. Training is also required for police officers and all relevant inspection bodies. There is also a need for judges to be specialized in this area. The courts have never acted in an ex oficio capacity to void unfair clauses in contracts, for example. There is no court practice addressing so-called “black” or “gray clauses” mentioned in the Law on Consumer Protection.
Due to lack of funds, there is no magazine in the country that regularly informs consumers in an unbiased way about the products offered on the market. In other markets, products are routinely and objectively compared to provide greater insights to consumers. The Consumer Organization of Macedonia is working in that direction, but despite the usefulness of their magazine, it can’t be compared with similar magazines published in modern countries that have the financial, human resources and reference laboratories. This kind of magazine could be published via cooperation with other NGOs, universities and public institutions.
There should also be a greater focus on influencing the consumer habits at the earliest possible ages as well as educating our young people about consumer rights throughout their formal education.
Other challenges include the needs to:
• Improve the collection and processing of data on consumer policies to provide a better basis for the development of future regulations and other initiatives; • Increase efforts by the Council for Consumer Protection in Government to assert itself, to hold regular meetings and ensure respect of its decisions; • Create a real public debate; • Create an adequate and comprehensive system of market surveillance; • Provide mechanisms and procedures for law enforcement and consumer protection; • Invest and strengthen active consumer associations; • Improve the capacities and forms of international cooperation at regional and international levels; • Encourage extra-judicial dispute resolution, • Create conditions for collective protection of consumer interests through court litigation as well as extra-judicial procedures.
We need a new law on Consumer Rights Protection. The 2004 law was changed several times to align it with EU directives, but amendments to the law can also make it more difficult to enforce. A new law would clearly indicate that consumers are entitled to certain minimum rights and other laws regulating the trade of goods and services. Other laws that regulate standards, technical specifications, health and safety, etc. can only increase consumers’ rights above and beyond those provided in the basic law.
In short, we lack a long-term, holistic strategy for consumer rights protection that includes, for example, the definition of vulnerable consumers and measures to ensure their protection and prevention of discrimination against them.
Finally, perhaps the most important challenge is to establish a dedicated Agency for the Protection of Consumers with adequate human and financial resources to coordinate all activities required to implement efficient and effective consumer protection in the country.
AM: What can you tell our readers about Macedonia’s Unfair Competition Law? Adopted back in 1999, it seems to overlap heavily with the Law on Consumer Protection and a number of other laws. Do you believe it should be repealed?
These laws are not contradictory, but of course they need updating. We need to enhance and to implement European solutions and do a lot more in terms of law enforcement. The fact that this law hasn’t been touched in 17 years, there are no data on how it’s been applied and it was meant to address dynamic areas like e-advertising, all suggest the need for legislative and enforcement action.
AM: Do you believe there is a need for greater protection of companies from abusive consumers?
JDA: In Macedonia, we can’t talk about aggressive consumers who abuse their rights, since we have such low public awareness. For example, I’ve run across educated jurists who don’t think consumers should be allowed to return rotten milk! In our country, there are no examples of aggressive consumers joining forces to damage companies. In our markets, despite the work of market inspectors, there are still expired products for sale, expensive products with excessive packaging to increase their weight, irregularities in the way prices are presented, clauses in contracts for financial services that are dishonest, and so on.
AM: What is your opinion of the Ministry of Economy’s Consumer Protection Program for 2017 – 2018? Will it be sufficient to make some progress in this area?
JDА: The Program is aimed at raising awareness and educating consumers but the allotted budget for it totals MKD 550.000 per year (<9.000 EUR). This shows the government’s attitude towards this complex issue. Nothing concrete is mentioned for the biggest challenges: A new law, establishing a long-term strategy, establishing an Agency, providing a consumer magazine including objective product comparisons, protecting vulnerable consumer groups.
The program is realistic given its budget, but inadequate to achieve a high level of protection of users and alignment with international standards for consumer protection, present in EU countries.