Out-of-court settlement is the biggest novelty in the Consumer Protection Act

The Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Tatjana Matic, said that the biggest novelty brought under the Law on Consumer Protection is "out-of-court settlement between the seller and the damaged buyer".

Matic told RTS that this would "significantly improve the statistics" compared to last year, when out of 22,000 consumer complaints, only two disputes were resolved by out-of-court settlement.

- If a seller is not interested in an out-of-court settlement, and if, based on the buyer's complaint, they go to court, the fines provided by law have been increased to RSD 300,000 up to RSD two million - said Matic.

Matic added that the Law on Consumer Protection represents "full harmonization" with EU directives, and that she expects the mechanism for out-of-court settlement to be established in one year, at the latest.

According to the current statistics, the largest number of consumer complaints in Serbia, every fifth, referred to footwear, while a large number of complaints about home appliances referred to the delivery time.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Tatjana Matic

Law on Consumer Protection

out-of-court settlement between the seller and the damaged buyer