At the beginning of the current year, the Montenegrin assembly adopted the new Law on consumer protection. The goal of the stated law is the further harmonization of the Montenegrin legislative system with the norms of the European Union.
The most important changes brought by the new law concern discounts, the display of prices, and the overall increase in the protection of consumers.
The most notable change introduced with the goal of increasing consumer protection is the requirement for sellers, if offering goods at a discounted price, to display the lowest price for which the particular good was offered in the last thirty days, along with the current price. This provision was introduced to combat the practice of marketing the decrease of prices shortly after their increase as discounts and is expected to have a significant effect. In order to ensure the application of this change, a penalty ranging from 500€ to 5.000€ was introduced.
On the other hand, with the previous law, the seller was responsible for each and every lack of conformity (defect) on a particular good for a period of two years after the transfer of the risk thereof to the consumer. This provision was kept with the new law, but whereas with the old law it was considered that if a defect occurred within six months of the day of the transfer of the risk to the consumer, the defect existed on the day of the transfer, with the new law this deadline for the responsibility of the seller was extended to a period of one year from the day of the transfer. Furthermore, these deadlines now also apply to defects of goods with digital elements or digital services. Lastly, if the seller prevents a consumer from realizing his rights regarding the purchased defective goods, he will be imposed with a fine ranging from 3.000€ to 20.000€.
The new law is expected to have an immediate effect on the overall level of protection of consumers in the Montenegrin market.
Prepared by,
Daniel Vujacic, LL.M. (UW)