Out-of-court settlement of consumer complaints to be implemented

By the end of the year, Serbia will get a new consumer protection law, and its most important new feature compared to the current regulations is the implementation of out-of-court settlement of consumer complaints.

In practice, this means that the consumer can resolve the dispute with the trader out of court and avoid time-consuming processes or having the case become subject to the statute of limitations, which have been the most common reasons for consumers giving up on their cases.

As Visnja Rakic, the assistant to the minister of trade in the Sector for Consumer Protection, says for Politika, the law can be expected to raise consumer protection to another level.

– Out-of-court settlement is also recognized in the current law, but is not really practiced. The courts are swamped with cases, which often end up being subject to the statute of limitations, which we are not happy with. That is why we've included the possibility of this kind of settlement in the draft law. Bodies for out-of-court settlement of consumer complaints will also be founded and funds will be set aside from the budget for those purposes – Rakic explains and adds that licensed legal practitioners, educated for such disputes, will be available to consumers.

Another new feature is that traders are now obliged to respond in such cases.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

out of court settlement of consumer complaints

consumer complaints

Visnja Rakic

consumer protection

law on consumer protection