EU-Report Accession Bulgaria

Chapter 23: Consumers and health protection

Since the last Regular Report, little progress has been made in this sector in terms of legal alignment.

No particular progress can be reported with respect to safety related measures.

Concerning non-safety related measures, the adoption of the Law on Tourism in June 2002 repealed the Law on Tourism of 1998 and aims at transposing requirements of the Directive on package travel.

Little progress has been made in further developing a functioning market surveillance mechanism. Some measures were taken to strengthen the administrative capacity of the Commission for Trade and Consumer Protection (CTCP), to enhance co-operation with other bodies dealing with control of consumer protection and to provide methodological assistance to consumer protection units within municipal administrations. Some training has been provided to staff of the Consumer Protection Department and the CTCP in the Ministry of Economy, to consumer protection departments within municipalities and to consumer associations. The technical equipment of the CTCP has been slightly modernised. Bulgaria continued its participation in the TRAPEX system for exchange of information on dangerous goods in countries of central and eastern Europe.

A 10% staff cut took place in the Commission for Trade and Consumer Protection. The staff has therefore been reduced to 170 employees, including some 133 inspectors and field officers.

Some measures were taken to upgrade premises and equipment of the conciliation commissions, which assist in out-of-court dispute settlements.

Three new consumer associations were founded, including the Bulgarian Academy of Consumers and the National Association for Consumer Information and Advice, thus bringing the total of consumer associations to nine. Financial support from the Government targeting consumer associations has increased slightly to 45,000. Consumer associations have set up Citizens Advice Bureaux and Consumer Information Centres; they provide advice and information to consumers, organise seminars on consumer issues, consider complaints and represent consumer interests in conciliation procedures. Under the amended law on standardisation of January 2002, a representative of consumer associations has been included in the National Council on Standardisation. During the reporting period, a Memorandum of co-operation and exchange of information was signed between the CTCP and consumer associations.

Overall assessment

Though comprehensive legislation in this field was adopted in 1999, Bulgaria still needs to complete the legislative framework in the area of consumer protection. Further alignment with the acquis is needed, particularly concerning certain aspects of the sales of consumer goods and associated guarantees, injunctions for the protection of consumer interests, timeshare, consumer credit, distance contracts, comparative advertising and product liability.

Enforcement of consumer protection legislation is still crucial, particularly the strengthening of the Commission on Trade and Consumer Protection, including its nine regional centres and 28 district units. The human and financial resources allocated to this institution need to be increased so that it can carry out its important tasks, e.g. the development of a national system for exchange of information on dangerous goods.

The lack of a clear concept on consumer policy, demonstrated, inter alia, by little activity on the part of either the Ministry of Economy as the policy-maker in this field, or the National Council on Consumer Protection, as the consultative body, hampers the development of a market surveillance system. Inefficiencies in this area need to be overcome in order to ensure the safety of non-food consumer products. The CTCP supervises the general safety of products apart from those products where special legislation to regulate safety requirements exist. The CTCP should have a more proactive role in promoting the importance of product safety among all involved parties, e.g. by organising specific campaigns on this topic.

Though some efforts have been made in co-ordinating the activities of the CTCP with other institutions dealing with market surveillance, as well as with consumer NGOs, further co-ordination between the CTCP and other controlling bodies (including in particular the State Agency for Standardisation and Metrology and customs) is necessary. The range of products controlled by market supervision authorities should be widened in type and quantity in order to include more products falling under the coverage of EC acquis on general product safety. Laboratory testing of the safety-related characteristics of products should be further developed.

Consumer protection units, which have been partially established within each municipal authority, remain weak, partly due to an overlap of functions with local offices of the CTCP.

Further progress is also needed on effective access of consumers to justice and out-ofcourt dispute settlement (in particular through the Conciliation Commissions provided for in the Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules). As in 2000, in 2001 a high number of cases submitted to conciliation commissions have not led to the conclusion of an out-of-court agreement.

Though consumer associations are relatively numerous and have, in general, a good working relationship with the government, they lack capacity themselves, which results in a relatively low impact on the development of a culture of consumer protection. The government should further promote the important role played by consumer organisations.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that if Bulgaria was to comply with EC standards on the protection of consumer interests, it would need to accelerate preparations of consumer policy legislation considerably. The Commission added that the main principles of the acquis had not been transposed into Bulgarian law and that achieving full compatibility in the medium term would require commitment and substantial efforts.

Since the Opinion, Bulgaria has made progress by transposing a reasonable part of the acquis but does not yet have a fully functioning system to implement this.

Negotiations in this chapter have been provisionally closed. Bulgaria has not requested any transitional arrangements in this area. Bulgaria is generally meeting the commitments it has made in the accession negotiations in this field.

Bulgaria should focus further efforts on continuing alignment of legislation in particular in the field of sales of consumer goods and associated guarantees, injunctions for the protection of consumer interests, timeshare, consumer credit, distance contracts, comparative advertising and product liability and ensuring effective implementation of legislation, in particular through an efficient market surveillance mechanism. Bulgaria should further integrate consumer concerns into other policy areas.

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