Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović participated in the 8th meeting of the National Forum on the Accession to the EU on “Consumer protection” in Šibenik

Inaugurating the National Forum meeting, Minister Grabar-Kitarović underlined consumer protection as one of foundations of democratic and free societies, recognized by the Government of the Republic of Croatia as one of its major priorities. Minister spoke on European mechanisms of consumer protection and said that Croatia achieved significant progress in this area, approaching the standards of states with long consumer protection tradition. The Croatian Government, but also society as a whole, should invest additional efforts in order to respond to remaining challenges in this area, such as improving administrative abilities and enhancing education on consumer protection.

Mayor of Šibenik Nedjeljka Klarić addressed the audience as well, highlighting that the process of accession to the EU opens up paths to development of a civil society and a better dialogue between the representatives of national and local authorities and the citizens. Mayor Klarić hailed the National Forum in Šibenik as another contribution towards accomplishing a goal all segments of society should strive towards – a more satisfied citizen. Šibenik-Knin County Prefect Goran Pauk addressed the audience next, stating that now was the right time to put the consumer in the spotlight as Croatia is about to enter the society of developed consumer countries. The audience was also addressed by Ema Culi, Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Assistant Minister who stressed that consumer protection was a multidisciplinary field which requires constant monitoring and adjustments. Assistant Minister Culi introduced forthcoming changes in consumer protection legislation and presented projects directed towards a better consumer education and a more effective protection of their rights, underlining that significant funds have been set for these programs from the national budget and CARDS program.

Officials from the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship introduced the priorities of the Croatian government in consumer protection and specific projects as establishing specialized consumer-advice centres, alternative mechanisms of dispute settlements, enhancing administrative capacity and stronger support to the work of consumer protection associations. The Forum participants agreed that Croatia achieved significant progress in relation to consumer protection in the last few years, but also agreed that Croatian citizens were not well informed and educated on the subject and mentioned that there were plans to introduce this topic to elementary and secondary schools’ education programs. They also agreed that consumer protection associations should be united in their activities, that citizens should use the existing out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms more often (as the Court of Honor of the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts and the Croatian Chamber of Economy) and that local government and self-government should take a part of responsibility when it comes to protection of consumers’ rights. They expressed the desire to continue the public debate on this subject, consumer protection being a wide field where the process of learning never stops.

Together with the mentioned participants, many government, local authorities and self-government officials as well as participants from consumer protection associations, the Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, the Croatian Employers Association participated at the National Forum in Šibenik.