|
INSTRUMENTS AND POLICY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION AS THE OBJECT OF THE PROTECTION OF FREE MARKET COMPETITION
Prethodno priopćenje
The consumer protection in the Republic of Croatia was not regulated under the sole code, while the rules that provided for protection of consumers were contained mainly within the General Civil Code. However, the rules of the Civil Code did not distinguish the consumers as a category per se, and rather regulated the relationships in trade of goods and services or other civil aspects among the equal parties, no matter whether entrepreneurs or citizens. While the consumers did not represent the category that should be treated equal in trade based relationships, because one of the common characteristics of the modern democratic states is the protection of economically weaker part in trade relationships. That has resulted in developments in the legal doctrine in two interacting directions: rules on protection of consumers, by which consumers are protected as natural persons who purchase in the market of goods and services, and rules on protection of market competition – the antitrust legislation. The Republic of Croatia has enacted the solutions coming out from the EC acquis communautaire, which prescribe the protection of consumers in the Article 153 of the EC Treaty. Furthermore, the legal ground is contained also in the Article 74 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EC and the Republic of Croatia, based of which postulates was enacted the Law on Protection of Consumers, while another important aspect of the protection of consumers was incorporated in the Law on Protection of Market Competition. This is clearly visible through the institutes of evaluation of the agreements among undertakings, regulation of concentration, and the banning of the abuses of monopolizations on the Croatian market.
consumer protection; consumer protection law; protection of market competition; Law on Protection of Market Competition; acquis communautaire; Stabilization and Association Agreement; agreements among undertakings; regulation of concentration; banning of
Puni tekst (Hrvatski) Str. 1031 - 1050 (pdf, 233.49 KB)
|