bulgaria eu accession and consumer protection
TRANSCRIPT
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY OF LEFKE
& ROUEN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MASTERS OF SCIENCE
IN EUROPEAN MANAGEMENT
Dissertation
Bulgaria’s EU accession and Consumer Protection
Submitted to the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science in European Management
Submitted to: Dr. Alan Bell Submitted by: Emine Yuseinova
Student No: 24-0824
2
“Consumers by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group... whose views are often not heard.” - John F. Kennedy, 15th March 1962 in a declaration to the US Congress ~ · ~ “The world's consumers know what they want from trade - greater access to services, better and cheaper goods, and more information about the products they are buying - and the consumer voice should be at the heart of trade negotiations.” - Richard Lloyd, Director General of Consumers International, a quote from the conference “Towards Hong Kong”, December 2005 ~ · ~ “There are now 450 million consumers in Europe. Their expenditure represents over half of EU GDP. They are key to economic growth and creating jobs. And yet there is an EU-wide lack of consumer confidence when it comes to cross-border transactions. A solid legislative framework has to be complemented with enhanced consumer information and education at EU level, to shift from consumer protection to consumer empowerment.” - Markos Kyprianou, European Health and Consumer Protection Commission, on the occasion of the World Consumer Day, 15th March 2006
3
Table of Contents
PART I…………………………………………………………………………………. 6
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 6 1.1 Formulating the Research Project…………………………………………………... 6 1.2 Preliminary Work…………………………………………………………………... 7 1.3 Researchable Questions…………………………………………………………….. 14
2. Research and Information Finding………………………………………………... 14
3. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………... 17
PART II………………………………………………………………………………... 19
1. National legal framework dealing with consumer protection…………………… 19 1.1 Overview……………………………………………………………………………. 19 1.2 The Old Law on Consumer Protection (03/07/1999) ……………………………… 19 1.3 The New Law on Consumer Protection (in effect as of 10/06/2006) ……………… 28 1.4 Definitions of “consumer” and “consumer association” in Bulgaria………………. 37 1.4.1 Comparisons of the definitions of “consumer” and “consumer association” in Bulgaria with the definitions laid down on EU level…………………………………… 38
2. Bodies involved in consumer protection in Bulgaria……………………………... 41 2.1 Commission for Consumer Protection……………………………………………… 41 2.2 Other institutional bodies dealing with consumer protection………………………. 48 2.3 Consumer Associations……………………………………………………………... 50 2.3.1 Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria…………………………………………….. 51 2.3.2 Bulgarian National Consumers Association……………………………………… 52 2.3.3 Independent Union of Consumers in Bulgaria…………………………………… 54 2.3.4 Others……………………………………………………………………………... 55
PART III……………………………………………………………………………….. 57
1. Hypotheses…………………………………………………………………………... 57
2. Overview of the questionnaire analysis…………………………………………… 62
3. Consumer Protection……………………………………………………………….. 63
3.1 Consumer protection and confidence……………………………………………... 63 a) Level of consumer protection in Bulgaria…………………………………………... 63 b) Level of consumer protection in the EU……………………………………………... 65 c) Level of safety in products…………………………………………………………... 66 d) Level of supervision and control on the market for safer products and services……. 67 e) Enforcement of legislation on Consumer Protection………………………………… 68
4
f) Governmental efforts on consumer protection……………………………………….. 69 g) Market surveillance: should Government strengthen and better it? ………………… 70
3.2 Informed Consumers………………………………………………………………. 71 a) Consumers’ level of knowledge of their rights……………………………………… 71 b) Information given by sellers / traders……………………………………………....... 71 c) Information regarding labels, ingredients, and contents of products and services…... 72 d) Information regarding clauses in trade contracts…………………………………….. 73 e) Information regarding claims for products and services…………………………….. 74 f) Knowledge about the New Law on Consumer Protection…………………………… 75 g) Knowledge about claim registers maintained by sellers / traders…………………… 76 h) Knowledge of Consumer Institutions………………………………………………... 76 i) Knowledge of the “Consumers’ Telephone Line” …………………………………... 78 j) Do consumers want to know more about their rights………………………………… 79 k) Means of information………………………………………………………………... 80
3.3 Consumers’ economic interests……………………………………………………. 81 a) Sale’s slips and warranties given by sellers / traders………………………………... 81 b) Sale’s slips and warranties requested by customers…………………………………. 82 c) Products bought from Door-to-Door Sellers / Traders………………………………. 83 d) Safety of products offered by Door-to-Door Sellers / Traders………………………. 84 e) Consumers’ claims regarding faulty products……………………………………….. 85 f) Warranties: how fair are clauses for redress…………………………………………. 86
4. Access to Justice…………………………………………………………………….. 87
4.1 Complaints made about products and services………………………………….. 87 a) How often Bulgarian citizens complain about products & services………………… 87
4.2 Problems encountered when purchasing products or services…………………… 88 a) How many BG citizens are able to find an amicable settlement to their problems….. 88 b) Solutions reached…………………………………………………………………….. 89
4.3 Access to justice…………………………………………………………………….. 90 a) Do BG consumers take a case to court………………………………………………. 90 b) Does joint action with other consumers encourage BG citizens to defend their rights 92 c) In whom do BG citizens place their trust to defend them in court………………… 93 d) The level of confidence in courts……………………………………………………. 94 e) Which body can best protect BG consumers’ rights………………………………… 95
4.4 Consumer Knowledge……………………………………………………………… 96 a) Access to means of dispute settlement………………………………………………. 96 b) Awareness of means to dispute settlement ADR……………………………………. 97 c) Involvement of Consumer Associations……………………………………………... 98 d) Integration of Consumer Rights in other policies in Bulgaria……………………….. 99
5
5. Bulgaria’s EU accession and consumer protection……………………………….. 100
5.1 Bulgarian Consumers and their attitude towards the Single EU Market………... 100 a) Price of non-food products…………………………………………………………... 101 b) Price of food products……………………………………………………………….. 101 c) Price of Services……………………………………………………………………... 101 d) Quality of non-food products………………………………………………………... 101 e) Quality of services…………………………………………………………………… 102 f) Choice of non-food products…………………………………………………………. 102 g) Choice of food products……………………………………………………………... 103 h) Choice of services……………………………………………………………………. 103
5.2 Bulgarian Consumers and their attitude towards consumer rights and market surveillance…………………………………………………………………………….. 104 a) Bulgaria’s EU accession and consumer rights………………………………………. 104 b) Bulgaria’s EU accession and market supervision and control………………………. 105
PART IV……………………………………………………………………………….. 107 1. Recommendations…………………………………………………………………... 107
2. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………... 123
Annex………………………………………………………………………………….. 127
References…………………………………………………………………………….. 133
6
PART I
1. Introduction
My name is Emine Yuseinova and I am a Master student in the European University of Lefke. I
am in the Masters in European Management program that is run in collaboration with the Rouen
University in France. I am a Bulgarian citizen and that is one of the reasons I chose to do my
Master degree in this area. Since Bulgaria is a candidate member, I am very keen on learning
what the future will hold for the Bulgarian Nation. I am taking the Master program as a part-
time student and this is my second and also final year on the road to my graduation. Therefore,
the dissertation I am going to concentrate on is very important for the months ahead till my
Graduation Jury.
The beginning of every dissertation is very difficult. As written in the Business Research
Methods course booklet “The process of formulating and clarifying the research project is one of
the most important parts of the dissertation process and it is also the stage that causes much
worry” (Ed Hyatt, Business Research Methods, MEM course, 2005). I have to admit that I really
had troubles as to what I should choose as a basis for my dissertation. I had to look what really
interested me and what was relevant to the Master I am taking in order to give a fresh start to the
process in question. I included all the brainstorming and the research I made in the following
paragraphs.
1.1 Formulating the Research project
In the beginning of our first year, Dr. Alan Bell introduced us a lot of areas and subjects that
could become basis for our dissertations. Therefore, as a beginning, I looked at all subjects
included in the Masters in European Management program to figure out which courses interest
7
me and which ones not. I believed that I should choose an area that I was interested in, in order
to be successful in what I was going to do.
After looking at the various subjects given to us by Dr. Bell, I found that I am genuinely
interested in legal issues. I am very aware of the fact that law governs all aspects of our lives,
including the European Union. Without law, it would have been very difficult to create such a
big Union, in fact even impossible. All practices within and outside the European Union are
governed by huge amount of treaties, rules, regulations, etc. and any business there is properly
functioning due to the law controlling it. To mention few, there is the Competition Law and the
various rules that govern each of the fundamental freedoms in the Community (goods, persons,
etc.)
Taking account of this and having in mind the importance of every legal activity, I have chosen
my research area to be European Union Business Law.
Considering all of the above, I have to add that I will look at the EU Law issues in regards to my
country – Bulgaria. Bulgaria is one of the countries preparing to accede to the European Union
and there are many legislative processes going on there in order to fulfil the Copenhagen
Criteria.
1.2 Preliminary Work
Finding a suitable area should be followed by formulating a research idea and this would be the
area where I was going to specialize in. In a visit to my country in January 2005 and later on in
August 2005, I realized, after researching, that the present status of the consumers in Bulgaria
8
was very bad and the dated Law on Consumer Protection1 had many flaws. The problems in this
area were obvious and I heard many people complaining that there was no relevant organ to take
care of them.
a) The History and Problems – year 2006 and earlier
Before the adoption of the New Law on Consumer Protection (10/06/2006), The Law on
Consumer Protection and Trade Rules was the basic legal act in the field of consumer
protection, and the main body enforced by law in the field of consumer protection and market
surveillance was the Commission on Trade and Consumer Protection. Bulgaria adopted the Law
on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules in 1999 with a view to transposing the Acquis. In
accordance with this Law a National Council was to be set up and its role should be further
strengthened and its activities stepped up, so that it could formulate the main principles and the
objectives of consumer policy. However, only tiny changes were made to it.
As stated in many of the EU Commission Reports in regards to Consumer Protection, a major
effort was still needed to effectively implement the legislation which had been transposed,
particularly by means of effective surveillance procedures. In the 2004 Report, for instance, the
Commission stressed that the legislative framework needs to be improved and the market-
surveillance mechanism introduced, and that the only steps taken were the training measures
implemented by the competent body (the Commission on Trade and Consumer Protection) to
explain the application of the law on tourism.
I would like to discus the 1999 Law that was enforced in Bulgaria. When we look at the Law on
Consumer protection, we can see that it was combined with the trade rules, and in practice, this
1 The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules i.e. the Law that was in force before 10/06/2006
9
Law protected not the consumers but the traders (Pavel Karlev, Standard newspaper, No 4327,
22/01/2005). And if we look closer we will see that most of the readings concerned the trade and
the trade associations, instead of how consumer rights were to be protected. There was also a
special paragraph, according to which the Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules did not
cover products and goods that were covered by special provisions and rules. This meant that we
had to take out the food, the alcohol, and the water, since there were different rules guiding
them. The question here was what else the Law left there to control. Another problem is that
there was no single organ to perform such a control. In that situation, over 10 institutions
supervised the selling of goods, and when a consumer went to complain to one of them he/she
was usually sent over to another one with the excuse that it was not in their range of authority to
solve the problem at hand. Thus, a consumer with an elementary complaint had to revolve
around the various institutions without being protected.
Another serious problem was that clients did not know what rights they have as to what
compensation he/she would be given in case of faulty goods. Usually firms and companies did
not give money back, nor change the good in question, but offered to repair the flaw. For
example, there was a friend of mine, a woman, who purchased expensive boots in November.
With the first snow, they began leaking. After complaining, the firm took them for repair and
gave them back to the woman in April. There were lots of other examples, from water-heaters
that waited for spare parts until the guarantee period expired till video-players taken for
repairing being kept by the traders for two years (Pavel Karlev, Standard newspaper, No 4327,
22/01/2005).
10
Formerly, the most commented goods were the food products and the household goods. The
signals were most often related to incomplete label information of foods of animal origin: no
expiry date, no information about the producer, content or weight, etc.
In the beginning of September 2005 the Bulgarian Cabinet approved a consumer protection bill,
this being one step forward in aligning Bulgarian legislation in the sphere to the European one.
The Bill introduced in full European standards in customer protection in spheres such as
providing credible customer information by marking goods’ and services’ prices, regulations on
misleading and advertising, etc. The bill regulated the matter of goods’ and services’ safety as
well as manufacturers’ liabilities in cases of harm caused by a faulty piece of goods.
The Bulgarian Government hoped to have the bill passed into a law by the end of 2006 so that
coordination was achieved between government departments and other bodies involved in
consumer protection (Emil Alexiev, Chief at the Department of “Protection of Consumers”,
“Foreign Trade and Commercial Policies). However, the major challenge facing Bulgaria was
not simply the adoption of yet another law, but the putting into motion the system of protection
of customer rights. It was only thus that Bulgaria would cover EU regulations in full.
Later on, in early October 2005, the Minister of Economy and Energy Rumen Ovcharov met
with the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou who
underlined that “Consumer protection is an issue widely discussed at the European Parliament
and virtually becomes a major criterion for the progress made by any EU aspiring country in
the pre-accession process”. Minister Ovcharov pointed out that the consumer protection area is
of particular significance for the Bulgarian government. He also added that to this end, as of
October 2005, a separate directorate at the Ministry of Economy and Energy becomes
11
responsible for consumer protection issues. The establishment of such a department was
welcomed by EC’s representatives as a highly positive step.
The major objectives outlined by the Ministry of Economy and Energy in its strategy were as
follows: to maintain a high level of consumer protection in Bulgaria, to effectively apply the
relevant legislation and encourage NGOs working in consumer protection. The adoption of the
Consumer Protection Law by the end of 2005 was expressed to be a priority for the Ministry of
Economy and Energy. However, it was not until mid-2006 when the New Consumer Protection
Law was adopted by the Bulgarian Government.
A law would not take care of the problems; however, it would secure the circumstances for
guaranteeing people’s rights, prescribe the responsibilities of business and government
administration and sanction departmental cooperation. A proper law would create conditions,
but consumer culture required a lofty civic position, awareness and adoption of action on the
part of individual consumers. This culture should not be the “They did this and that to us” kind,
but rather more the “We look after our rights” brand (Emil Alexiev, Chief at the Department of
“Protection of Consumers).
b) Comparisons
When we look at the countries in the European Union, we can see that the picture is different
there. Usually, they have only one institution that controls everything. In France, the consumer
protection is a government policy and it is given a very important place. For example, there is a
special provision that requires a special degree of temperature in order to transport fish.
Therefore, a police officer can stop you and if the temperature is higher than the allowed, he has
12
the authority to punish you. On the other hand, the consumer protection is in the hand of the
constituencies in United Kingdom.
c) Community Aqcuis
During the past years the policy of consumer protection became yet more significant within the
frames of the EU institutions. Existing Community rules cover the protection of consumers'
economic interests (in particular the monitoring of trade descriptions, the indication of prices,
consumer credit, unfair terms, distance selling, package holidays, sales away from business
premises and time share property), product safety in general, cosmetics, the designation of
textile products and toys. Most importantly, according to Art.III-65 (present provisions), the
consumer protection should also be taken into consideration when setting up internal market
rules.
As just mentioned above, consumer policy is a crucial issue in regards to the European
Community. EU Consumer policy is particularly relevant to two of these aims: modernizing the
European economy and ensuring a better quality of life for European citizens. Through
establishing a consumer-friendly internal market, consumer policy sets the conditions for more
choice and more cross-border trade. And through enabling consumers to buy what they need on
fair terms, consumer policy contributes to the intangible, but fundamental, objective of an
improved quality of life for EU citizens.
The European Commission has always drawn three main objectives when preparing annual
action plans for consumer protection. These are: first, a more powerful voice for the consumer
throughout the European Union; second, a high level of health and safety for EU consumers;
and third, full respect for the economic interests of EU consumers. The economic prosperity of
13
everyone in Europe depends on the internal market functioning effectively. This is widely
accepted; what is perhaps less widely understood is that in order for the internal market to
function effectively, consumers must be able to participate effectively in the marketplace.
“Business cannot thrive without consumer confidence” (SPEECH/01/434 by Mr. David
BYRNE, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection).
I would like to add that participation of candidate countries in Community programmes is an
important way to prepare for accession and familiarize candidate countries' administrations, as
well as their citizens, with the Community policies and working methods.
To this end, Bulgaria expressed her interest in participating in the EU programme for consumer
policy, (Decision 20/2004/EC), establishing a general framework for financing Community
actions in support of consumer policy for the years 2004 to 2007.
The government of the country and the Commission signed a bilateral agreement Memorandum
of Understanding in October 2004. This laid down the practical terms of participation in the
programme, including the financial contribution, from 2005 onwards. The agreement enabled
Bulgarian consumer protection authorities and consumer associations to benefit from most of
EU consumer policy actions, such as training for national officials and staff of consumer
associations in EU legislation and participation in calls for specific projects.
Looking at Bulgarian accession process, the Association Agreement between the European
Union and Bulgaria provides for the harmonization of Bulgarian law with Community law and
cooperation to achieve full compatibility between Community and Bulgarian consumer
14
protection systems. However, until 10th of June 2006, Bulgaria still had considerable amount of
legal and institutional adjustment to make in order to reach the Community level.
1.3 Researchable Question
In view of the facts that I mentioned above I was able to formulate researchable questions for
my dissertation.
"How Bulgarian accession in the European Union will benefit consumers in regards to their
protection?" And "What do Bulgarians want from consumer protection?"
I realize that I will have to perform serious investigation in order to find solution or an answer to
these. In the following paragraphs, I explain what kind of information I will need, where I can
find it, how I expect to get and use the information, and if there is any extra information I need
in order to complete my dissertation.
2. Research and Information Finding
As a start point of my research, I consider the Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria’s website. I
have searched through their official site at www.potrebiteli-bg.com and found very useful
information related to my dissertation. I have also emailed them ([email protected]) with the
request for information, such as annual reports, statistics, leaflets and brochures in regards to
consumer protection, and their journals (provided they have such).
My next source of information will be the Trade and Consumer Protection Commission (TCPC)
in Bulgaria. On the 15th of March this year (2005), the TCPC initiated an “Open Doors”
Program that was widely covered by the media. The Bulgarian citizens raised specific questions,
filed claims, and provided signals for irregularities in the retail network. The Commission
experts were handing out to all their visitors the brochure “Complete Information – Right
15
Choice”, which provided clear information on most frequent questions asked by citizens when
shopping. There was a special emphasis on the labelling rules for sale of shoes, electrical
devices and textile products. The objective was to make people understand their rights as
consumers so that their protection becomes a “mutual process” (Damian Lazarov, TCPC
Chairman). The experts from the Trade and Consumer Protection Commission tried to explain
to citizens that it is to their benefit to know their consumer rights, to require fairness and
accuracy from the traders and producers and to use their right to information before closing the
trade deal. Any purchase of goods, be it a small item or a large product, is a type of contract
between the trader and the consumer and both parties have rights and obligations under it.
I think that the “Open Doors” initiative was a step forward in improving the system of
safeguarding the consumer rights and believe that I will be able to conduct a very useful research
through the database of this initiative (e.g. citizens claims, behaviour, and reaction to it) and also
the database of the TCPC itself. The official site of the Commission is http://www.ktzp.bg .
Next, I consider the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy (MEE) as a source of
information for my thesis. Recently, the MEE has organized a conference on consumer rights in
cooperation with the Municipality of Madrid. Among the Main Topics of discussion were:
protection of Bulgarian Consumers’ rights when purchasing goods or signing commercial
contracts, facilitating the acquirement of consumer credits, and safeguarding the consumer
against buying dangerous goods.
Experts from the area of consumer protection from Bulgaria and ten EU Member Countries took
part in the conference under the PHARE programme, joined by representatives of the European
Commission’s Delegation in Bulgaria, of the business sphere and of consumer unions in the
16
country. They discussed the European practices in the effective applications of consumer-
protective legislation.
I will email them at [email protected] and try to contact them at their official telephone
numbers in order to get the information I need in regards to consumer protection and the
outcome of the conference in question. I hope to get some useful statistics concerning consumers
as well.
Collecting primary and secondary data from the aforementioned bodies and interviewing the
relevant authorities will be essential for me in finding information in regards to consumer
protection policies. I will try to contact Mr. Pavel Karlev, the founder of the Bulgarian
Consumers’ Federation, Nina Radeva, Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy, or any other
scholars specialized in the field of consumer protection in order to get a primary data for my
dissertation. I will use the data collected in order to find some hypotheses – solutions to the
current problem in Bulgaria.
I will also make use of the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) which is EU-wide
network to promote consumer confidence. It was created by merging two previously existing
networks: the European Consumer Centres or “Euroguichets”, which provided information and
assistance on cross-border issues; and the European Extra-Judicial Network or “EEJ-Net” which
helped consumers to resolve their disputes through alternative dispute resolution schemes
(ADR). Currently, there are centres in 23 countries across Europe and their number is expected
to increase in the near future. I have already got a list of their addresses, telephone numbers and
emails. I will use the information taken from them to make some comparative analyses between
EU countries and Bulgaria.
17
I will also make comparisons of some of the crucial consumer policy definitions laid down on
Bulgarian and EU legal framework level. This will help me figure out what possible legal
outcomes would come up after Bulgaria accedes to the European Union.
I think to design a detailed questionnaire in order to measure the level of knowledge of
Bulgarian citizens regarding consumer protection and consumer rights and in order to see what
Bulgarian citizens expect from consumer protection.
I will also try to get information from the EU Commission’s Annual Reports concerning the
state of the Bulgarian Consumers and thus follow up on how much has Bulgaria improved in
regards her consumer protection, what is there still to be done, and what are the major problems
that still need to be addressed so the Consumer practices align with those of the EU. In this
regard, I will make a comparison between the Old Law on Consumer Protection that I have
discussed above and the New Law on Consumer Protection that entered in force as of 10th of
June 2006.
3. Conclusion
The right of consumers to protection today represents one of the fundamental civic rights.
On the other hand, harmonisation with consumer protection rules constitutes one of the
conditions for the elimination of market barriers and for market integration, which
includes the circulation of goods and services with the same standards of safety and
quality. Therefore, it is highly essential if all countries in the European Union and the
candidate countries have functional and effective standards and rules for protecting the
18
consumers. I would be more than happy if I can contribute to and specialise in this area of
market integration.
19
PART II
1. National legal framework dealing with consumer protection.
1.1 Overview
The New Law on Consumer Protection has entered in force as of 10th of June, 2006, thus
replacing the Old Law on Consumer Protection which was not sufficient to protect Bulgarian
consumers efficiently and was not also aligned to the consumer protection framework of that of
the European Union. I am therefore going to discuss the major points of the legal structures of
both the Old and the New Law in order to compare and analyze the differences between the two
and also to observe to what extent the New Consumer Law has covered and introduced the
consumer protection regulations and directives of the European Union.
1.2 The Old Law on Consumer Protection (03/07/1999)
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules2 (LCPTR) that came into force at the year of
1999 laid the foundation of consumer law and the government policy for consumer protection in
Bulgaria. This Law for the first time3 in Bulgarian legislation had come to regulate the basic
rights of Bulgarian consumers such as the right to protection against risks of buying products
and services that might endanger human life, consumers’ health, right to protection of
consumers’ economic interests when buying products and services; access to justice and out-of-
court settlements; consumers’ right to associate together in order to better defend their interests
and the right to information.
2 See the Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules on the Commission for Consumer Protection website at http://www.ktzp.bg 3 Bulgaria is the only East-European country that had not accepted a special law for consumer protection until 1999
20
The Law regulated the basic rights and consumers’ economic interests and defined the legal
guarantees for their protection. The LCPTR introduced the definition of the term “consumer”
and thus a new legal subject was established in the market relations: any person who bought or
used products or services4 for personal needs.
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules regulated the right to information of
consumers as a preliminary legal opportunity for assessment the characteristics of a product
prior to its acquisition or usage by the consumer. The matter of the “right to information” was
laid down in Art. 3, paragraph 1 of the Law, which included:
- product’s сcharacteristics, ingredients, labelling, instructions for use, packaging and
maintenance;
- product’s price and quantity;
- effect on other products in case of joint use;
- clauses and time limit of warranties; and
- expire period / date
The decree specified in Art. 3, paragraph 1 of the Law had imperative character and the above
mentioned elements could be seen as minimum required information that traders were obliged to
give to consumers. According to the requirements of the LCPTR, the information given by
traders had to be correct, complete, clear and conveyed to consumers in an appropriate manner.
The Law stipulated specific requirements for giving information for specific groups of products
such as:
- second-hand products / products that had already been in use;
- products with expired dates that did not endanger consumers’ health and life;
4 I would like to note here, that although the term “services” was mentioned in the LCPTR, there was no legal definition laid down in the Law as to what “service” might be
21
- products with deviation of previously announced indicators; and
- products subject to auctions
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules regulated the basic rights and obligations of
producers, traders and importers5 in regards to products’ safety. The right to consumer
protection against products or services that might endanger consumers’ lives, health or
properties corresponded with the counter-obligation on part of producers, traders, and importers
to “offer only safe products on the market”. The LCPTR developed further this obligation
stating that producers, traders and importers were also obliged not to offer any goods they
supposed, knew or must have known to be unsafe.
Thus, once the producer, trader or importer found out that a product was not safe, s/he was
obliged to:
- withdraw from the market products being threat for consumers’ lives, health and
properties; and
- inform immediately in an appropriate manner consumers and Consumer Protection
supervision authority for all risks related to the use of the products concerned
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules introduced special requirements concerning
“warranty responsibilities” and “the right to claims” as additional legal opportunity for
consumers to defend their rights and economic interests.
Thus when producers or importers offered goods with warranties they were obliged to indicate
in the contract or the warranty document the period and the clauses that applied for that good.
The warranty period started from the time the good was received, unless the parties had not
5 The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules did not include the legal term “distributor”. It is now introduced as a legal subject in the New Law on Consumer Protection, 2006
22
negotiated a later period. Specificity was provided for food products – their warranty period was
their expiry date.
The LCPTR provided for conditions related to warranty responsibilities that had to be carried
out by traders. S/he was obliged to give consumers warranties given to him by the producer. In
case of damage or flaw in products that occurred during the warranty period, producers and
traders were obliged to provide for spare parts and other necessities for repair of the damaged or
faulty products. For local products producers and traders were required to establish their own
repair services or to make contracts with the repair services of other traders.
The warranty responsibility was directly related to the “right to claim” given to consumers. The
legal order of this law established a higher level of consumer protection without the need of
third party participation, be it a public or a control body. Consumers had the right to claim
regardless of whether the producer had given a warranty in the following hypotheses regulated
by the Law:
- flaws in the good
- inconformity with the declared size or amount
- inconformity with the declared trade mark
- any established lack in the good / anything missing
The LCPTR introduced specific provisions related to the right to claim in which consumers had
three working days, from the time the good was bought, to exercise this right in case there were
evident and obvious flaws. Thus, based on their right to claim, consumers might request for one
of the following:
- refund of the sum paid for the good
23
- replacement of the flawed one with new
- partial reimbursement of the sum; or
- free-of-charge repair
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules also introduced the concept of unfair term in
a consumer contract, which was defined to be contrary to the requirements of good faith and that
caused a significant imbalance in the trader’s and consumer’s rights and obligations. In the
presence of doubts that a consumer contract might contain unfair terms, they would be
interpreted in a manner favourable for the consumer. The Law explicitly defined unfair terms as
insignificant, except the hypotheses where such terms were negotiated individually between the
trader and consumer.
The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules stipulated the establishment of a new legal
institute in Bulgarian legislation who would cooperate in dispute settlement between consumers
and traders in the hypotheses related to warranty liabilities; the right to claims and unfair terms
in consumer contracts.
The LCPTR also introduced the conciliation bodies as out-of-court dispute settlement methods
between consumers and traders. The set-up and the proceedings of the conciliation commissions
were arranged by the Rules for Proceedings of Conciliation Commissions. A conciliation legal
procedure might be started by a filing in a petition by a consumer. The decisions taken by the
Commission were not binding on the parties, but at a later stage of hearing the case by judicial
authorities these decisions might be presented as written proofs aiming at the protection of
parties’ statements before the court.
24
Despite the achieved results, it has to be noted that the Law on Consumer Protection and Trade
Rules did not arrange a number of areas pertinent to the protection of consumers. Accordingly,
new enhanced rules were needed in order to promote and better the level of consumer protection
in Bulgaria. New rules and regulations were also needed because of the following reasons:
- The building of functioning market economy in Bulgaria required the need of a modern
legal framework for consumer protection that could secure and guarantee not only
protection for consumers, but also to help attain economy effectiveness by guaranteeing
the protection of all economic actors. The wide variety of products and services offered,
the development of new trade selling techniques, the progress of advertisement, and the
opening of Bulgarian market to imported goods required the need for legislation that
would regulate all these aspects of trade in order to attain a balance in the relations
between consumers and traders.
- After 1999, there were new Directives for consumer protection adopted and passed on a
European level that were not incorporated in the Bulgarian legislation. These are the
Directive on Certain Aspects of the Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated Guarantees
1999/44/EC that sets a minimum baseline for consumers’ rights across the internal
market, the General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC to extend safety regulation to
all consumer products and Directive on Distance Selling of Financial Services
2002/65/EC6.
On the other hand, there were certain EU Directives which were not incorporated in the Law on
Consumer Protection and Trade Rules, 1999, though they were passed on EU level before the
year of 1999. These are the Timeshare Directive 94/47/EC and the Directive on Comparative
Advertising 97/55/EC.
6 Information on EU Directives on Consumer Protection is taken from the European Commission Consumer Affairs website at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers
25
At the same time, part of the directives on consumer protection were incorporated in the Law on
Consumer Protection and Trade Rules only partially, such as the Doorstep Selling Directive
85/577/EC to protect consumers in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises,
and the Distance Selling Directive 97/7/EC to protect consumers in respect of distance contracts.
In order to harmonize Bulgarian legislation on consumer protection with the European one there
was a strong need that all European Directives are fully integrated in a new legislation.
The need to create preconditions for integrating Bulgaria in the Single European Market of the
European Union posed the question of regulating consumer contracts with international elements
(ALEKSIEV, Emil7;; “Market & Law” journal, issue 01/2005). In the process of Bulgarian
accession in the European Union it was obvious that cross-border consumer contracts would
increase and that Bulgaria had to undertake the revision of the Law on Consumer Protection and
Trade Rules to align to EU “consumer acquis”. In 2003 the first alteration of the legislation on
consumer protection took place in this direction. The Rules of the Rome Convention8 Art.5
(80/934/EEC) were brought in the LCPTR to then cover the applicable legislation related to
consumer contracts with international elements. However, taking into account that most of the
European Directives on consumer protection already had decrees that related to the applicable
legislation on consumer contracts with international elements, it was appropriate that all decrees
concerning and related to the consumer contracts in question were set apart in a separate Chapter
in the Bulgarian consumer protection law (ALEKSIEV, Emil, “Market & Law” journal, issue
01/2005).
7 Emil Aleksiev is the Chief of the Department for Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Economy and Energy 8 See more for Rome Convention, 19 June 1980, at http://www.rome-convention.org/instruments
26
Consequently, the new Bulgarian legislation on consumer protection had to pursue the following
aspects in order to align its consumer protection policies to these of the EU prior to her
accession:
- To lay down the policy direction related to the protection of Bulgarian consumers and to
guarantee high level of consumer protection, consumers’ health protection, safety and
economic interests.
- To guarantee the attainment of harmonization of Bulgarian legislation to that of the
European one to a greater extent as expected in the light of the undertaken commitments
by the Bulgarian Republic9. Hence, new legislation was required to integrate fully the
regulations of most of the existing European Directives, namely:
o The Directive on Price Indications (98/6/EC)
o Misleading Advertising Directive (84/450/EEC)
o Comparative Advertising Directive (97/55/EC)
o The Directive on Certain Aspects of the Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated
Guarantees (1999/44/EC)
o The Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts (93/13/EEC)
o Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC)
o Doorstep Selling Directive (85/577/EEC)
o Timeshare Directive (94/47/EC)
o The New Directive on Product Safety (2001/95/EC)
o Injunctions Directive (98/27/EC)
o Directive on Liability for Defective Products (85/374/EEC)
9 See the Negotiation Position of Bulgarian Republic on Chapter 23 “Consumer Protection and Health” (CONF-BG 31/00)
27
As a result of the above mentioned factors there was a new law drafted and adopted by the
Bulgarian Government at the year of 2005, which goals were to:
- To create preconditions for increasing consumers’ confidence in market economy
- To create conditions for the effective execution of the legislation
- To encourage the activities of consumer associations as well as the representation of
consumer interests
- To create conditions for coordination of the proceedings of the different Ministries and
Departments that deal with consumer protection
- To strengthen the independent character of the consumer protection policy and to create
conditions for integrating the consumer protection policy in other policy areas.
As stated by Mr. Emil Aleksiev, the Head of Consumer Protection Affairs, the New Law on
Consumer Protection had the following aims:
- To broaden the basic consumer rights declared in the LCPTR as well as the right to
consumer education on matters related to consumer protection and consumer
representation in public bodies that take decisions on consumer related issues.
- To include services and service safety in the sphere of the new law
- To include the comparative advertising, joint offers, timeshares, and requirements for
directions for use of products offered to consumers in the legal framework of the new
law
- To improve the regulations on trade guarantees and consumers’ claims
- To introduce the rules from Art. 129 (a)10 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which will bring
forth better reading of consumer protection policy in carrying out and implementing
other policies. It is therefore required that horizontal approach is taken in carrying out the
10 Art. 129 (a) is Ex. Art.153 in the Treaty of Amsterdam. Visit http://www.eurotreaties.com/amsterdam for more information on the Treaty
28
consumer policy as well as that consumer policy is taken into account in the spheres of
other policies such as transportation policy, communication, public services,
environment, agriculture etc.
- To delimit precisely the functions of the control bodies dealing with market surveillance
and to create conditions for the coordination in the proceedings of the control body
performing surveillance on the general safety of goods, and the control bodies
responsible for the application of vertical legislation for safety of goods. There is
therefore the need for regulations and decrees that will arrange the cooperation and
information exchange between the different control bodies.
- To regulate the relationship between the administration and consumer associations for
creating the necessary conditions for active participation of consumers and their
representatives in the decision-making process on all matters related to consumers. There
should be certain criteria for consumers’ representation regarding their participation in
different consultative bodies.
- And finally, the new law has to overcome the limitations of the Law on Consumer
Protection and Trade Rules, 1999, according to which the Law does not apply to
products and goods that are regulated by other special provisions and rules11.
1.2 The New Law on Consumer Protection (in effect as of 10/06/2006)
In November 2005, the 40th National Assembly passed a New Law on Consumer Protection that
was promulgated on December 9th 2005 (copy 99 of the National Newspaper). The New Law on
Consumer Protection abrogates the Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules and comes in
effect as of June 10th, 2006.
11 The Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules, 1999, Temporary and Concluding Decrees - §2
29
The New Law on Consumer Protection proclaims the basic consumer rights and introduces the
regulations of Art.153 of the Treaty of Amsterdam for integration and implementation of
consumer policy in the spheres of other policies.
The New Law now arranges the following issues:
- giving information to consumer (general duty for giving information, product labeling,
directions for products use, price indication of products and services);
- misleading, dishonest and comparative advertising;
- trade practices and selling methods (contracts made away from business premises,
distance contracts, information related to price discounts, joint offers);
- safety of goods and services;
- trade guarantees and the consumer right to claim;
- the trader’s liability for damages caused by faulty products, unfair terms in consumer
contracts; and
- timeshares
The Law on Consumer Protection now introduces fully the following European Directives:
o The Directive on Price Indications (98/6/EC)
o Misleading Advertising Directive (84/450/EEC)
o Comparative Advertising Directive (97/55/EC)
o The Directive on Certain Aspects of the Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated
Guarantees (1999/44/EC)
o The Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts (93/13/EEC)
o Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC)
o Doorstep Selling Directive (85/577/EEC)
30
o Timeshare Directive (94/47/EC)
o The New Directive on Product Safety (2001/95/EC)
o Injunctions Directive (98/27/EC)
o Directive on Liability for Defective Products (85/374/EEC)
The Law on Consumer Protection also introduces part of the regulations of Directive on
Distance Selling of Financial Services 2002/65/EC12.The Law on Consumer Protection Part II,
Chapter IV arranges the consumer protection in distance selling contracts including the sphere of
financial services. The decrees of the Law on Consumer Protection introduces fully the
regulations of Directive 97/7/EC on distance selling contracts while also introducing essential
elements of Directive 2002/65/EC for the distance selling of financial services13.
The new Law on Consumer Protection also arranges the institutional structure for consumer
protection in Bulgaria. The chief administrative body that is assigned with the execution of
consumer protection is the Ministry of Economy and Energy. The Minister of Economy and
Energy implements and coordinate the public policy for consumer protection and undertakes
measures for integrating the consumer protection policy in carrying out other policies. The
Minister of Economy and Energy is in charge of the proceedings of the National Council for
Consumer Protection and also coordinates the activities of other administrative bodies dealing
with consumer protection.
The decrees of the Law on Consumer Protection provides for retaining the statute of the now
operative Commission for Trade and Consumer Protection which changes its name to
12 The Directive 2002/65/EC amended the previous Directives on Distance Selling of Financial Services: Directive 90/619/EEC and Directives 97/7/EC and 98/27/ECs 13 Bulgarian legislation envisages fully introducing the Directive 2002/65/EC by adopting a special law on distance selling of financial services
31
Commission for Consumer Protection (CCP). The New Law increases substantially the powers
of the CCP, so that the Commission for Consumer Protection has now the power to conduct
administrative control in the sphere of misleading, dishonest and comparative advertising. More
so, according to the decrees in the Law the Commission for Consumer Protection will become
the main supervision body for misleading and comparative advertising.
The CCP is also given additional powers in implementing the Law on Consumer Protection in
the sphere of goods & services selling and related claims, the sphere of general products and
services safety, and also in the sphere of timeshares. The CCP has also the power to bring
actions for the protection of consumers collective interests and also to refer to the court to issue
injunctions for suspending breaches and violations of the consumer protection legislation. The
Commission for Consumer Protection becomes the main surveillance organ for consumer
protection in the framework of this legislation.
The Law on Consumer Protection gives control powers to consumer protection units of
municipality administrations related to giving information to consumers, some selling methods,
trade guarantees and the right to claim.
Partial powers are also given to surveillance organs regulated by other Laws, e.g. Law on Food
Safety and Law on Technical Requirements for Products.
The New Law regulates in detail the means for settling consumer disputes through consumer
complaints and calls, the conciliation commissions and the instruments for collective
consumers’ protection – bringing actions for suspending violations and claims for consumers’
32
compensation. It is useful to note here, that according to the Law consumer associations might
also bring actions with the aim of protecting the collective interests of consumers.
The new Law regulates the proceedings and activities of consumer associations and their
relationship with administration bodies. The Law defines the criteria for recognition of
consumer associations as well as the criteria for those consumer associations who can take part
in the proceedings of different consultative bodies including the National Council for Consumer
Protection.
The Law on Consumer Protection arranges the following consumer momentums:
Confirms the grounds and the constitutional basis of the consumer protection policy;
Confirms the independent character of the consumer protection policy;
Contains definitions, principles and decrees applicable for all consumer goods &
services;
Consigns a coordinated and general institutional structure in carrying out the consumer
protection policy;
Introduces the regulations of Art.153 of the Treaty of Amsterdam
Adopts horizontal methods of approach in implementing the consumer protection policy
in the spheres of other policies, such as in the spheres of transportation, energy,
competition etc.;
Broadens the sphere of basic consumer rights so that it incorporates the
recommendations and rules of the UN Economic and Social Council Resolution 1984/63
(26 July 1984) and UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/39/248 (1985)14.
Consumers now have the right to education and training on matters related to consumer
14 See more of these Resolutions at the UN website at http://www.un.org/documents
33
protection as well as the to consumer representation in public decision- making bodies
dealing with consumer protection;
The Law on Consumer Protection now regulates the services and services safety;
For the first time, the Law regulates the public relations regarding comparative
advertising, the joint offers, information on price discounts, and timeshares;
Trade guarantees and consumer claims are now better regulated by the New Law;
Actions for violations of the consumer protection legislation are brought in according to
the Law. In order to speed up the legal procedures on claims related to consumer
legislation breaches, the Law stipulates that these claims are heard according to the order
in Chapter 12 (a) “Prompt Proceedings” of the “Civil-Procedure Code”;;
The duties of the surveillance bodies who deal with consumer protection are more
precisely defined in the new Law; more so, better conditions are created for coordination
and information exchange between the different surveillance bodies;
The Law regulates the relationship between the administration and consumer
associations aiming for better conditions for consumer representatives’ participation in
implementing consumer legislation and in the decision making process. As mentioned
above, certain criteria are laid down for representation of consumer association and their
participation in consultative bodies.
The new Law now covers all goods and services amending the Law on Consumer
Protection and Trade Rules. According to the new Law, in case where two laws’ decrees
contradict with each other applicable will be this law which ensures a higher level of
consumer protection.
Recently the Parliament has passed a draft law on consumer credit that was drawn up by the
Ministry of Economy and Energy in 2005. The draft law fully integrates the regulations of the
34
EU Consumer Credit Directive 87/102/EEC that was amended with Consumer Credit Directive
90/88/EEC and Directive 98/7/EC15. The draft law aims at securing protection and confidence in
consumers in the sphere of consumer credit transactions. The draft law on consumer credit
envisages certain requirements for creditors prior to concluding a credit contract as well as
during the concluding process and after realization. The Bulgarian Government aims at full
harmonization of the legislation with the European one concerning consumer credits, securing a
consumer protection mechanism in consumer credit transactions and restricting frauds and abuse
in this area of the legislation.
Consumer protection is also dealt with in the spheres of other Laws (secondary legislation). One
of them is the Decree for Food-Like Products adopted by the Council of Ministers on January
12th, 2006, which is now in force along with the Law on Consumer Protection from June 10th,
2006, and it introduces the EU Directive 87/357/EEC16 on dangerous imitations. It aims at
preventing risks related to consumers’ health and safety emanating from the use of products
imitating food. The Commission for Consumer Protection has the power to order producers and
distributors to withdraw dangerous food-like products and also to impose administrative
sanctions as provided for in the new Law.
Other normative acts issued by the Ministry of Economy and Energy that seek to increase
consumer protection are: Regulation for the Proceedings of the Conciliation Commissions;
Regulation for the Proceedings of the National Council for Consumer Protection; Decree for
Product Pricing and giving information to consumers for repair of daily appliances; Decree for
the conditions and the order for giving information by producers, distributors and suppliers 15 These European Directives are now being revised with the aim of adopting new law on consumer credit that will guarantee consumers a good level of protection in cross-border credit transactions taking into account the innovations in the financial services sector. 16 The Directive 87/357/EEC was adopted on June 25th,1987, and aims for the approximation of Member States’ Laws concerning products which, appearing to be other than they are, endanger the health or safety of consumers.
35
regarding dangerous goods & services on the market as well as the collaboration between
producers, distributors / suppliers and the surveillance bodies in regards to products & services
safety; Decree for withdrawing and destroying dangerous products and related consumer
compensation17.
In September 20th 2005, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria adopted a
correction in the Organizational Statutes of the Ministry for Economy and Energy establishing a
Directorate for Consumer Protection. The alteration gives the Directorate many functions from
harmonizing Bulgarian consumer legislation to the European one, preparing medium-term
strategies for the development of consumer protection policy, coordinating the RAPEX
proceedings in Bulgaria, relationship with consumer association to preparing, coordinating and
implementing PHARE projects and other international consumer protection programmes.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the New Law on Consumer Protection is far more
inclusive of regulations critical and important for the enhancement of consumer confidence and
guaranteeing consumer protection. As we have seen, most of the European Directives are
incorporated in the rulings of the Law with few Directives left to be introduced in the short-term.
The institutional and administrative structure is better defined, powers are designated, and
cooperation between the different bodies dealing with consumer protection is established.
However, it has yet to be seen how the new Law will affect the various aspects of trade in
Bulgaria, traders and producers attitudes toward the new consumer concept who will be
informed, educated and a careful choice-maker. Although Bulgarian legislation introduced a lot
of new areas and new moments for consumer protection and “built the necessary legal
framework for attaining a higher level of consumer protection in Bulgaria” (ALEKSIEV, Emil,
17 For more information on the normative acts see the Commission for Consumer Protection website at http://www.ktzp.bg
36
“Market & Law” journal, issue 01/2005), it will be difficult to reap results from the benefits the
Law offers unless a powerful consumer culture is there in force to defend its rights in this fairly
new market economy18.
1.4 Definitions of “consumer” and “consumer association” in Bulgaria
Now, I am going to have a look at the definitions of “consumer” and “consumer association” as
laid down by the New Law, confront it with the definitions prescribed in the Old Law, and then
compare it with the definitions existing on a European Level. Since the concepts of consumer
and consumer association are of great importance to the formation of active consumer trend and
consumer culture, I find it useful to discuss these definitions to see if they differ or are similar to
the European ones.
According to the Law on Consumer Protection, “consumer” is every natural person who
acquires goods or makes use of services that are not intended for conducting trade or
professional activities, and every natural person who, as a party to the contract of this Law
operates outside the framework of his/her trade or professional work. The Law on Consumer
Protection and Trade Rules defined “consumer” as every individual who acquires goods or
makes use of services for his/her personal needs or the needs of his/her relatives, and not for
selling, producing or practicing of profession or trade. We can notice that although formulated
somewhat differently by the two laws, the definitions come to define identical concepts.
Consumer associations, on the other hand, are defined as associations, whose activities are
directed mainly at protection for consumers, they are non-profit organizations who work only
for the interest of consumers, are not bound to certain political party, are economically 18 Bulgarian economy was a centralized economy under the Communist Regime till 1989. The transition to free market economy began around 1991 with the help of Western financial assistance approved by IMF (source: The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook)
37
independent from producers, importers, traders and distributors, and are registered in the
Ministry of Justice as non-profit organizations aiming at conducting socially useful activities. As
stipulated in Art.167. (2), persons who are producers, importers, traders and distributors cannot
occupy leading positions in the administrative bodies of the consumer associations as well as
government officials who perform consumer protection functions, persons occupying
managerial or control positions in trade associations or co-operations, and persons who hold
managerial or leading positions in political parties or organizations.
The Old Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules Art.38 (1) defines consumer associations
also as non-profit and comprised of individuals united to protect their consumer rights, and
briefly stipulates the persons who cannot hold leading positions in consumer associations. In this
matter, it has to be noted that the New Law better defines the term “consumer associations”,
precisely sets criteria for consumers’ representation and participation in governmental,
consultative and control bodies and in is genuinely aiming at stimulating consumer activities and
confidence. Interesting to also note is, that the Old Law provides for consumer associations’
assistance by public bodies, municipalities and local administration only to those associations
whose members are more than 300 (Art.39). This suggests that though an association of less
than 300 members might be very active and socially useful than a bigger one, it could not be
given assistance by the Government and sets somewhat restrictive character on association
movements. The legislative authorities should have seen this limitation that it is now not
included in the New Law, however, the Law on Consumer Protection stipulates that one of the
requirement for consumer association’ representation is that the association has established
consultative office in at least one third of the districts’ cities. I will agree that this requirement
has incentive character for fostering consumer protection, since more consultation offices might
38
help consumers not only to know their rights and protect them, but also direct and orient
consumers to be more active, informed and confident.
1.4.1 Comparisons of the definitions of “consumer” and consumer association” in Bulgaria
with the definitions laid down on EU level
As basis for comparison regarding the definitions of “consumer” and “consumer association”
between Bulgaria and European country, I have decided to look upon the following countries:
Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia in order to see how some of the countries that entered the EU in
2005 formulated the terms that are of importance to my dissertation. I would like to discuss the
countries’ concepts19 according to the order given above.
In most Member States the legislation contains various definitions of consumer and consumer
associations (British Institute of International and Comparative Law, “Unfair Commercial
Practices”, General Report 2005). The various legislations are rather similar and often akin to
the definitions of consumer and consumer associations provided in various EC Directives.
According to Art.2 of Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (definitions) “consumer” means
any natural person who, in commercial practices covered by the Directive, is acting for purposes
which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
a) Consumer
Estonia: §34 Law of Obligations Act defines consumer as natural person who performs a
transaction not related to an independent economic or professional activity. The Consumer
Protection Act §2 (1) defines consumer as natural person to whom goods or services are offered
19 The concepts of the three countries in question are taken from the General Report on Unfair Commercial Practices, 2005, from the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and also Reports on Institutional Relations between Public Authorities and Consumer Organizations at National Level
39
or who acquires or uses goods or services for purposes not related to his or her business or
professional activities.
Latvia: The Consumer Rights Protection Law defines a consumer as a natural or legal person
who expresses a wish to purchase, purchases or might purchase goods or utilizes a service for a
purpose which is not directly related to his or her entrepreneurial activity.
Slovakia: A definition of the consumer is envisaged in three different sources: the Act on
Consumer Protection, the Law on Consumer Protection at Distance Marketing and Door-to-
Door Selling and a chapter in the Civil Code which deals with consumer contracts. These
definitions are slightly different but their substantive part is identical. According to the Act on
Consumer Protection and the Law on Consumer Protection at Distance Marketing and Door-to-
Door Selling consumers are defined as both “individuals and corporations, who buy goods or
exploit services” or as stated in the Civil Code “concludes or fulfils a contract and do not
perform these activities within or towards business”.
b) Consumer Association
Estonia: According to Consumer Protection Act (enforced on 15 April, 2004) a consumer
organization is a voluntary association of persons the activities of which is to protect and
promote the interests and rights of consumers an which is founded and registered in accordance
with the Non-Profit Associations Act. For the purposes of the Consumer Protection Act, a
consumer association is deemed to be representing the collective interests of consumers if the
association which are the members of the federation have at least 50 members in total, and if the
association or the federation: 1) represents the interests of consumers at local or national level;
2) is independent of undertaking and political parties.
40
There is no official list of consumer organization at national level in Estonia, but the
organizations that are considered as consumer organizations are the Estonian Consumer Union
(ECU) which is called “umbrella” organization and comprises of 9 member organizations and
300 activists from all over Estonia, and there are also around 5 small consumer organizations
dealing outside the sphere of the ECU. Consumer organizations may be financed from the State
Budget for consumer protection activities and funded under specific projects, according to the
Consumer Protection Act. Consumer organizations can participate in the decision-making
process for developing consumer policy, and are also invited to give their opinion on legislative
issues and participate in workgroups, meetings, seminars, and cooperation projects.
Latvia: The legal base of non-governmental organizations is stated in the Consumer Rights
Protection Law, Section 22, “consumer organizations” as public organizations (clubs, societies
or associations) voluntarily united of consumers with purpose to protect consumer rights and
these organizations act in accordance with regulatory enactments and articles of associations of
the relevant public organization for consumer rights protection.
As in Estonia, there is no official list of consumer organization at national level in Latvia, but
the organizations that are de facto considered as consumer organizations are the Club for
Protection of Consumer Interests and the Latvian Consumer’s Protection Association that
incorporates ten regional consumer organizations. Consumer organizations are not funded by the
state20.
20 Information presented is dated 2005
41
Slovakia: Consumer organizations are established in accordance with the act no.83/1990. There
are no specific criteria for determining consumer organization – but the statute of the
organization should clearly state, that it is an organization established to protect consumers or to
act in a way to protect consumers. Consumer Organizations have to be registered as such at the
Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic. There are around 34 consumer organizations in
Slovakia that are funded by the Ministry of Interior on projects submitted by NGOs. The
consumer organizations are less or more involved in the decision –making process regarding
consumer protection and related EU issues.
2. Bodies involved in consumer protection in Bulgaria
As stated in the Law on Consumer Protection, different state bodies are involved in consumer
protection activities and market surveillance. The Law provides for coordination and
information exchange between these different state bodies, however, there are currently no
statistics or analysis that shows the effectiveness of the coordination between them, neither there
is information on how the bodies, except the Commission for Consumer Protection (CCP), deal
with consumer related issues and consumer complaints. I am going to discuss here the activities
conducted by the CCP for enforcing consumer protection from the year 2005 to now. Then I will
discuss briefly the bodies as stipulated in the Law on Consumer Protection and the activities and
work undertaken by consumer organizations in Bulgaria.
2.1 Commission for Consumer Protection
The Commission on Consumer Protection currently has 6 regional Directories that cover
municipalities all over Bulgaria. The work and activities of the CCP is supervised by the
Ministry of Economy and Energy. The CCP is the main control and counseling body in Bulgaria
dealing with consumer protection and also market surveillance. It is a fairly new institutional
42
body considering the fact that it was established in the year 1999 along with the then adopted
Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules.
The Commission on Consumer Protection has been working on projects and activities under the
headline of “Consumer Education” since year 2005. The aim is to increase the level of
consumer information so that consumers make informed choices and know how to protect their
rights when needed. Along with consumer related activities, the CCP also works on market
surveillance and conducts inspections together with other control bodies in order to increase
safety and fair trade practices.
In the year 2005, inspectors from the Commission21 accomplished a total of 33 718 inspections
in 25 618 targets regarding topics such as: giving information to consumers and products pricing
and labelling; specific requirements for textile products; requirements for materials used in shoe
making; requirements for daily appliances; automobiles and related issues; application of the
Law on tobacco and tobacco products; application of the Law on medicine; and verification of
claims put by consumers.
Since the end of the year 2005, Bulgaria receives and submits notifications on the RAPEX22
system as part of the EU association arrangements in order to harmonize and guarantee the level
of products safety and related legislation with that of the European Union. In this direction,
between the period October – December 2005, there were 88 notification received on RAPEX,
for which the Commission undertook the following actions: for 22 of the cases, the Commission
initiated control checks to see if the products subject to these notifications were offered on
Bulgarian market; and for 66 of the cases, the Commission gave information to the competent
control bodies for initiating the necessary operations (56 notifications to the Public Metropology 21 The then named Commission for Consumer Protection and Trade Rules (2005) now carries the name Commission for Consumer Protection (as of 10th June 2006) as stipulated in the New Law 22 Rapid Alert System for Non-food Products / See more for RAPEX at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers
43
and Technical Control Agency, 9 notifications to the Ministry of Health Protection; and 1
notification to the Ministry of Internal Affairs accordingly). At the same time, Bulgaria
submitted 7 notifications on RAPEX system for 7 dangerous products. There were also 4
RAPEX notifications on dangerous products found on the Bulgarian market in January 2006.
The Commission also issued orders for the temporary suspension of realization of 32 types of
goods doubted to carry risks to consumers’ health, lives and properties, 19 of which were proved
to be unsafe and dangerous and forbidden for market realization.
Another 7,734 control checks were conducted by the Commission on the safety of specific
groups of products such as textiles, shoes, daily appliances, handicrafts, leather, glass, crystal
ands toys. The Commission carried out 7 safety campaigns aiming for preventive control on the
safety of the just mentioned groups of products including automobile parts. The 7 campaigns
consisted of 1,743 overall inspections resulting with established 322 administrative violations.
Apart from the safety related actions, the Commission deals with consumer claims and
complaints. During year 2005, 4290 consumer complaints were received in the Directories of the
Commission. 3103 of the complaints were related to violations of the Law on Consumer
Protection and Trade Rules. 1768 of the complaints were settled in favour of consumers. 2,173
check controls were carried out in respect of consumer complaints of which 62 were withdrawn
by consumer themselves, 88 were carried over to conciliation commissions, and 409 were found
groundless. Most of consumer complaints were related to electrical and daily appliances,
furniture, mobiles, TVs and washing machines.
44
The Commission implements tasks concerning the protection of consumers’ economic interests.
As a result from the advertisement supervision on the market carried out by the Commission
during year 2005, 138 traders were examined for advertisements that aroused suspicions for
containing misleading and dishonest elements. 37 of the traders were issued orders to eliminate
the breaches, 11 were drawn up acts for administrative violations, and there was 1 legal action
taken against trader for protection of the collective interests of consumers related to a misleading
advertisement.
In the sphere of contracts with general clauses, the Commission required, analyzed, and issued
orders to 10 business firms.
In the area of distance selling, the most encountered violation faced by the Commission
concerning distance selling contracts is the non-compliance to the right of the consumer to reject
the product during the 7-days period of its purchase. As an outcome, 26 consumers’ claims who
bought products via distance selling were satisfied accordingly. The Commission found
breaches of 6 distance selling traders who were issued orders to change the contents of the
proposals offered to consumers.
In regards to individual and group trips with common price on the Law for Tourism, the
Commission carried out 174 inspections in tour operators’ offices and issued 24 acts for
violations of the legislation. The most common violations are those related to not including the
necessary information in concluded written agreements for organized tours as defined in the
Law on Tourism, and in the given written information lacking information about the kinds of
transportation services, locality, category and type of the tourist’s site, number and type of meals
given; and name of the insurance company.
45
As provided for in the Law, the Commission also organizes the work of the conciliation
commissions. In the year 2005, 107 conciliation proceedings were set up, as the number of the
proceedings increased slightly compared to year 2004, where there were only 68 instances of
approaching the conciliation commissions. This suggests that more consumers and traders turn
to and trust out-of-court methods in settling their disputes. Of the 107 proceedings set up, in 14
the parties came to an agreement; in 67 the proceedings were ceased due to traders’ non-
participation; in 11 the proceedings were ceased due to parties coming to an agreement prior to
the proceedings; in 8 the proceedings were ceased due to other reasons; and 7 of them are still
pending. The conciliation commissions are mainly referred to due to disputes between
consumers and traders regarding claims. Since October 2005, there is also a Conciliation
Commission for payment disputes which deals with disputes related to bank transactions, credit
cards and the institutions and persons dealing with such type of money transactions. Since its
establishment there were 3 conciliation procedures set up till the end of year 2005.
As of year 2006, the Commission has increased significantly its efforts in promoting consumer
education and consumer protection. The line undertaken by the Commission for promoting
consumer culture is necessitated by approaching the date specified by the European Union for
possible Bulgarian accession and the strong need for harmonizing the level of consumer culture
to the one in the European Union. Consumer help-desks are being set up regularly in big malls
and supermarkets in major cities, information concerning consumer protection is conveyed to
the media, brochures and leaflets containing basic consumer rights and other important
information is handed out to consumers; intensive inspections and controls are carried out
especially in tourist’s places at the Black Coast and necessary measures are undertaken to
prevent dishonest business practices. Inspections are carried out in 6 municipalities of Bulgaria
46
by the regional directories of the Commission, and according to data given by the Commission
on Consumer Protection in Plovdiv, out of 600 inspections monthly around 90 traders and firms
are issued acts on Consumer Protection Law and the Law on Tourism. Again by data given by
the Commission, 85% of the consumer complaints on consumer protection are satisfied
accordingly and almost 100% of the consumer complaints on the Law on Tourism are concluded
in favour of consumers.
Considering the facts shown above, it could be said that the Commission for Consumer
Protection help consumer protection in two ways: directly and indirectly. Directly, the
Commission helps promote consumer confidence by dealing with the complaints brought by
different consumers on different matters. I would like to give an instance of this direct “help”
that I happened to observe at first hand. A consumer came to the Commission, very upset, and
explained the problem that happened to him. Apparently, the consumer bought a TV branded
“SONY” 29 inches from a big store called “METRO” which has branches in major cities in
Bulgaria. After the purchase he found out that the TV has a defect. He went to the service
written in the warranty, they repaired it, and he took it home and again a “defect”. The consumer
went to the service once more, but they could not do anything. He went to the store he had
bought the TV from, and requested the authorities to change the TV with new one. According to
the New Law, a consumer can choose the type of compensation in case of flaw in the product
and the trader is obliged to enter the complaint in the claim register and to compensate the
consumer accordingly. However, the authorities there didn’t fulfil the consumer’s claim neither
have they entered the complaint in the claim register arguing that they would only change the
product with a protocol issued by the repair service: a clause that was not written in the
warranty. Thus the consumer turned to the help of the Commission for Consumer Protection to
47
help him defend his rights. Consequently, the Director called the store and everything was
settled right at the moment.
Many examples as the one above happen in day to day live of Bulgarian citizens. The settlement
of the complaint will depend on the documents obtained by consumers at the time of purchase.
Without sale’s slips, warranties and other consumer contracts there is a very little chance for
consumers to defend their rights if there’s a breach. Consumers should know that only if they
know their rights and take the necessary preventive steps, only then the Commission will be able
to help them effectively. Traders’ actions, such as the one in METRO, show that even
businesses of reputation may deny basic rights to consumers, showing that traders and sellers
use the ignorance of consumers to foster their trade. I will discuss the level of consumer
information in Part III, a force that could not be ignored and that could bring higher level of
consumer protection and to safer trade and fair trade practices.
The indirect help of the Commission consists of the various inspections carried out regarding
different aspects of not only consumer protection legislation, but of the related laws, such as
tourism, food, health etc. An instance of this would be the hundreds of check controls on hotels,
restaurants, street vendors, tour operators and stores conducted monthly at the Black Sea Coast,
an area which is highly active during summer season and there are ongoing businesses
throughout the summer till middle fall. One of the most common violations are setting different
prices for foreigners and also setting different prices for the day and the night at restaurants and
bars. The inspections have as aim to prevent unfair trade practices and the offering of goods and
services of poor quality or of danger to consumers’ health and lives. Thus, indirectly the
Commission and other related bodies help increase the level of consumer protection by
preventing traders and salespersons ignoring the legislation in question.
48
2.2 Other institutional bodies dealing with consumer protection
Other institutional bodies having relation to and dealing with consumer protection are:
Regional Inspections for Safeguarding and Control of Public Health
Public Metropology and Technical Control Agency
National Health-insurance Fund
Tourism Agency
National Veterinary and Medical Office
Regional Municipality Units for Consumer Protection
Executive “Automobile Administration” Agency
Commission for Competition Protection
Others as necessitated by the occasions
During the year 2005, the Commission had various interactions with the above mentioned
bodies in carrying out inspections and check controls for securing the safety of non-food
products. There were overall of 260 joint inspections carried out on a national level for the year
2005. 53 joint inspections were carried on safety of products as 36 of them with the Public
Metropology and Technical Control Agency; 1 with the General Tax Directory; 14 with “Public
Police Services” Directory; 1 with the National Service on Plant Protection; and 1 with the
Inspection on Labour.
In 2005, the Commission received 17 notifications from “Customs” Agency in regards to
products that arouse suspicions for serious and direct risks for the health and safety of
consumers, or for goods that lacked proper documentation. According to the adopted Instruction
for interaction and cooperation between different institutional bodies, the Commission launched
49
immediate counter-measures and accordingly 7 notifications were given to the Public
Metropology and Technical Control Agency and the Ministry of Health Protection which are
responsible for the safety of the products defined in the notifications; concrete actions were
carried out in regards to 6 of the notifications for the dangerous character of 3 of the products for
which the Commission gave information to “Customs” Agency in advance.
There are currently ongoing inspections at the Black Sea Coast region due to the intense tourist’
activities taking place during the summer season, especially in the cities Burgas, Varna, Albena,
Golden Sands, Sunny Beach and also Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Joint inspections are carried
out with the Tourism Agency, the Regional Inspections for Safeguarding and Control of Public
Health, Economic Police Forces, and public municipalities. At the same time, the Commission
for Competition Protection embarks on check controls related to unfair competition practices
which might mislead and economically harm consumers. For instance, a couple of months ago
the Commission for Competition Protection imposed sanctions for 160,000 Leva to two firms
for violations of the legislation. The two businesses, THS Cosmetics and Trade House Slavkov-
90, imitated shampoos of another very reputable firm, “Alen Mak”, which not only harmed the
firm in questions, but also misled consumers believe they buy shampoo of a well-known firm.
Institutional and administrative cooperation is essential to preserving the rights of consumers,
implementing the legislation on consumer protection and normalization of the market economy.
A better normative basis is not on its own sufficient for the protection of consumer rights. All
surveillance bodies have to cooperate and interact with each other and all of them have to be
strong-willed to actually implement the Law on Consumer Protection and related legislation.
Only thus, consumers will reap benefits of the current legislation in regards to the effectiveness
of the mutual cooperation between the different state bodies.
50
2.3 Consumer Associations
Consumer associations are at the heart of the consumer issues and they represent consumers’
thoughts and attitudes in the best way possible. It’s no chance that the European Union and the
EU Commission consider consumer association as very important elements in formulating
consumer policies and support them in order to foster active consumer trends and info-
dissemination of consumer rights23. Consumer associations are one of the most important factors
in informing consumers about their rights and in driving governments take into account
consumers’ concerns and apply consumer legislation in practice. As stated on the EU
Commission website “the proper involvement of consumer organizations in EU policies is a key
element of producing better and more effective consumer protection regulation”.
I believe that consumer associations are the mirror of the consumer culture existing in a country.
As many consumers know about their rights and as much information they have at their hands as
many “strong” consumer associations there will be in a given country. Consequently, we can
observe that countries that have history of consumer culture have much more active consumer
organizations than the ones that do not, e.g. as in the United Kingdom or France.
In Bulgaria, the process that consumer associations engage in is very dynamic. Yearly, there are
many consumer organizations that spring up and fade away simply because they can’t find
sufficient financial resources to keep them “alive”. Many of them prepare and present projects to
the EU Commission, but when projects are not approved they do not have any chance but to go
downhill. The Bulgarian government does not provide funds for consumer organizations unless
they are officially recognized by the Ministry of Economy and Energy. According to the Law on
23 The EU and EU Commission attach great importance to working closely with consumer associations. See more about this topic on the EU Commission website.
51
Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Economy and Energy publishes a list of the recognized
consumer associations assessed by the criteria defined in the Law. Currently, the list of official
Bulgarian consumer organizations numbers only three: the Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria;
Bulgarian National Consumer Association, and the Independent Union of Consumers in
Bulgaria. I would like to now discuss these organizations in regards to their structure and
activities.
2.3.1 Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria
The Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria (FCB) was established on May 10, 1990, and is a non-
profit organization. It was created with the aim to protect the rights of Bulgarian consumers. The
Federation becomes a member of the International Organization of Consumer Associations in
1991, which is later renamed to Consumers International by the 14th World Congress.
In 1995, the FCB becomes a member of the Balkan Consumer Centre together with similar
organizations from Greece, Albania, Romania, and Yugoslavia (Cyprus and Turkey joined the
Centre one year later). The Balkan Consumer Centre was also institutionalized by the EU
Commission in the following years.
The Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria is one of the few organizations in Bulgaria whose
activities are directed mainly in favour of protecting the rights of consumers and consists of 23
regional consumers unions in almost all constituencies, and 96 Consumer Clubs.
The FCB’s activities are conducted in three main directions (as stated in their website):
First, Protection of the Economic interests of Bulgarian Consumers
Second, Facilitating the physical safety and improving the quality of goods and services,
52
And third, help people get familiar with their rights as consumers.
The Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria had so far joint projects with Consumers International
regarding surveillance on the Bulgarian market for food products and also projects on the
PHARE programme such as the effect of introducing VAT, price control on the market, progress
of the consumer protection activities and consumer control. The FCB is currently engaged with
the thousands of consumer complaints regarding the “Heating Installations” Agency, a
monopolist business that is state-owned. The FCB is also investigating on the SMS games in an
action to determine if the promised easy gains on a given true answer do not violate the
legislation. The Federation claims that the SMS games violate at least three Laws: the Law on
Gambling, the Law on Consumer Protection and the Law on Competition Protection. Apart from
these issues, there is no current information on the actions undertaken by the FCB during the
past year and now. I observed that the website of the Federation has not been updated since the
beginning of the year 2005 when I first visited their website. This might suggest that the FCB
does not have the financial or human resources for updating their site or that they conduct their
activities mainly in the direction of the claims against the “Heating Installations” Agency which
is an issue that is at the centre of all Bulgarian media lately. Interestingly enough is also the fact
that in the Memorandum of Understanding24 signed between the Commission for Consumer
Protection and consumer associations & trade organizations, the name of the FCB does not
figure there, whereas the names of the other two official consumer organizations are at the
foremost.
2.3.2 Bulgarian National Consumers Association
24 Memorandum of Understanding signed on 15th March 2006 between the CCP and consumer and trade associations, provides for information exchange and cooperation in regards to market surveillance and protection of consumer rights.
53
The Bulgarian National Consumers Association (BNCA) is an independent non-governmental
organization for protection of the consumer interests. The BNCA was founded in 1998 and it
aims at protection of consumers’ rights and interests by providing information that supports
consumers’ choices in the market, giving assistance about infringing upon consumers’ rights and
interests, and lobbying for the improvement of the legislation by representing consumers’
interests. It has 9 regional and 2 special branches established in Bulgaria so far and is a member
of the National Council for Consumer Protection, the National Union of Consumer Organization
founded on 17 March 2003, and an affiliate member of Consumers International. The BNCA
had many accomplished projects concerning consumer protection issues sponsored by a variety
of donators such as SPAN Consultants, Delegation of European Commission to Bulgaria,
USAID, PHARE Access Program, Leonardo da Vinci Program, Socrates, The Dutch Embassy
and others. This shows that the BNCA is an organization that can prepare and defend its projects
very well in order to receive financial assistance. The BNCA is also currently working on many
other projects such as “Food Safety – A shared responsibility”, “Stimulation of Energy Saving
House Consumption” sponsored by the Energy Alternatives Program 2005, and “Consumer
Watch”.
During the past year 2005, the BNCA published and distributed many bulletins, brochures and
CD-ROMs regarding consumer protection and related matters. The Association also provided
specialized thematic materials to the press such as information on offered goods & services,
information on protection of the economic interests of the consumers, and information on the
applicable law in the field of consumer protection in the EU and Bulgaria. The BNCA offers a
well-prepared, organized and informative website available both in Bulgarian and English
languages to interested consumers and other parties. There were 8 seminars and conferences
organized by the BNCA during 2005 with consumer information and protection topics as well as
54
about 32 consumer related seminars, conferences and workgroups that BNCA attended as a
participator. Assistance and help was given to consumers on various consumer topics from
consulting the public on consumer rights to in and out-of-court settlements. According to data
given by the BNCA, there is one legal suit that the Association and the Commission for
Consumer Protection are engaged with against the “Educational Center DIOGEN” Ltd which
concerns a claim for misleading advertisement (civil suit No: 826/2003). The BNCA currently
works on preventive actions directed to tourist’s issues such as traveling contracts and organized
common tours.
2.3.3 Independent Union of Consumers in Bulgaria
The Independent Union of Consumers in Bulgaria (IUCB) was founded on May 15th 1999 and it
now has representatives in all regional centre cities in Bulgaria. Since its establishment, the
IUCB has established active dialogues with state bodies that deal with consumer protection and
launched specific initiatives for direct discussion of consumers’ problems with traders at various
seminars and exhibitions. One of the main causes for the activities of the Union is, as stated by
the IUCB, to protect Bulgarian consumers, because the State is not able to, on one side, apply
the Law in practice and at the same time neglect the violations of consumer rights by state
monopolies. That is why IUCB has been directing its activities to harmonize the relations
between consumers and state monopolies. The IUCB issued newspapers on consumer protection
and prepared proposals to the Ministry of Economy and Energy consisting of critical consumer
issues to be taken into account. However, since year 2001 their website has not been updated
and there is no current information on the activities conducted since year 2001, except the
activities directed to protecting consumer rights in relation to state monopolies such as in the
spheres of energy, heating installations, communication, and water and drainage systems.
55
2.3.4 Others
According to data given by the Commission for Consumer Protection in Plovdiv, there are
currently around 15-16 consumer associations in Bulgaria. As mentioned above, the process
with the consumer associations in Bulgaria has been and is very dynamic and their existence will
depend on the financial resources and the projects that they prepare and defend. Since no fund
by the Government is available for consumer association except the ones that are officially
recognized, it is very difficult for such organizations to exist in a country where the average
wage accounts to 100 - 150$ a month and citizens manage somehow “make both ends meet”25.
Consumer organizations have to be very creative, credible and convincing in preparing and
defending projects aiming at attracting the necessary financial resources.
Apart from the three associations discussed above, there are the Regional Consumer Unions in
Plovdiv and Vidin, Consumers Academy in Bulgaria, Union for Consumer Protection, the
Association of Consumers and others for which no information is available due to their nature of
short duration.
The Regional Consumer Unions do not have informative websites, but they offer help and
assistance to consumers regarding consumer issues at their regional offices. The Consumers
Academy in Bulgaria, on the other hand, has a website that provides information as to the aims,
history, helpful links, campaigns, projects and contact details to interested citizens; however, no
recent update of the site is currently available. The main project of the Academy is the consumer
surveillance and education on Genetically Modified Food as well as campaigns and seminars on
the same subject and the safety of goods & services. The Union for Consumer Protection has the
best organized and informative website of all consumer associations in Bulgaria, according to
25 According to statistics carried out by the National Statistical Institute in Bulgaria conducted in year 2006. See more at http://www.nsi.bg
56
my observation. The website was sponsored by the EU PHARE programme and offers complete,
useful and updated information on most consumer-related issues. Also as a part of the PHARE
project, the Union has had consultants taught at the Informative-consultant Centre in Plovdiv,
has submitted documents for accreditation of its surveillance powers on food control, has
conducted informative consumer days, and published a variety of brochures for consumers’
help. It also has established a local club in Plovdiv for reception of consumers’ claims.
Though these consumer organizations provide help and information to consumers they do not
figure on the official list of consumer organizations issued by the Ministry of Economy and
Energy. This means that they cannot participate when formulating consumer and other related
policies, do not have the right to representation in the National Council for Consumer Protection
and consequently cannot participate in state consultative and collective bodies. Since it is at the
discretion of the Ministry of Economy and Energy to evaluate the representation requirements of
consumer organizations according to given criteria, such as the organization’s volume, capacity,
public value and significance, there is little room to discuss the lack of required elements of each
consumer organization. As a conclusion, I have to say that consumer associations in Bulgaria
have to become much stronger forces in the Bulgarian society in order to make consumers’
voice heard and urge the Government to not only take into account consumers’ problems, but
also to take control over its monopolies in order to balance the relationship and bring
equilibrium into the rights between the state monopolies and the consumers.
57
PART III
1. Hypotheses
Consumer Protection is a relatively new area in Bulgaria for its citizens as well as for the
government. There has been no research conducted previously on this topic and there is not
much documentation on consumer protection issues. When I visited the regional Commissioner
for Consumer Protection in Plovdiv I was not given any single document or statistics regarding
consumer activities for the past couple of years, though I asked for them. I was only given verbal
information that I have included in the previous chapters. Therefore, it was of significant
importance to my dissertation to design and hand out a questionnaire to the citizens of Bulgaria
in order to facilitate my work on consumer protection. The questionnaire aims at testing the
hypotheses that I am going to establish now.
While conducting my research on consumer protection in Bulgaria I have observed that many if
not most of the Bulgarian citizens are unaware of consumer protection issues. It seems to me
that many of them are not even aware that they, as consumers, have certain rights and privileges
which are governed by a specific type of law. I therefore think that consumer knowledge
enhancement should be one of the main priorities of the Bulgarian government when drafting
consumer policies. Ones Bulgaria is in the European Union the market will enlarge and people
will be bombarded with millions of different products and services. Lack of information /
knowledge about consumer rights will harm the citizens and eventually the Single EU Market. I
have therefore drawn up a couple of hypotheses that I think will enhance consumer knowledge
and will contribute to the effective and efficient workings of the Single EU Market. The other
hypotheses that I am going to discuss below will aim at smoothing the procedures of and
58
enhancing the cooperation between different governmental organs to achieve better protection of
consumers.
Hypothesis 1: I think that the introduction of lectures in secondary schools that deal
entirely with consumer related issues will form a consumer oriented culture in Bulgaria.
Such compulsory lectures in schools are existent in a couple of European countries where the
level of consumer knowledge was not at an appropriate level. Accordingly, this hypothesis
presumes the "injection" of consumer information into the young minds of the Bulgarian Nation
that will help shape future generations enriched with consumer awareness in the long term.
Hypothesis Two: I believe that the introduction of consumer related weekly programmes
on national TVs and Radios; the introduction of consumer oriented seminars and
increased number of consumer focused articles on newspapers and magazines will enhance
and create a stronger consumer culture in Bulgaria. In short, the hypothesis envisages the
media as one of the main channels through which consumers are informed about their rights and
privileges. In my opinion, the television, the radio and the press are the most influential and easy
way to address to millions of people living in Bulgaria26.
Hypothesis Three: I think that the amplification of strong non-governmental consumer
organizations will help restore the balance between the consumers, the traders, and the
governmental institutions dealing with consumer protection. I say restore the balance,
because according to me currently consumers are on lower level on the scale than traders. I think
this is caused by the lack of sufficient consumer related information of the Bulgarian citizens. If
proper funding and governmental support is given to such organizations, then I think they will
26 According to statistical data gathered in 2001, almost every family in Bulgaria owns a television set and a radio receiver. Averagely, citizens tend to read a newspaper and a magazine for about 15-16 minutes a day each one.
59
have a big potential to influence consumer policy and protection in Bulgaria and consequently
"build" powerful consumer mentality in Bulgarian citizens.
Hypothesis Four: I believe that improvement of the Bulgarian justice system will enhance
the trust of the citizens in the courts and the government which in return will help improve
the protection of consumer rights. In my opinion, the judicial system – the third power of the
Bulgarian Government – needs to be improved. Without harmonization of the legal proceedings
and without improvement of the court proceedings, not only the institutions dealing with
consumer protection will be affected negatively, but also the consumers will experience a
negative impact of the inefficient workings of the Bulgarian courts once Bulgaria becomes a part
of the Single EU Market.
Hypothesis Five: I consider that the projection of ADR bodies and methods in addition the
Bulgarian judicial system will promote better consumer protection. I think that if the
number of such ADR bodies is boosted in Bulgaria and if citizens are familiarized with them, it
will lift the burden out of the Bulgarian judicial system (which currently deals with all consumer
related hearings) and provide cost and time effective solutions for consumers in Bulgaria.
Hypothesis Six: In my view, the development of the cooperation between the Institutions
dealing with Consumer Protection. There are nine Institutions dealing with consumer related
issues as defined by the New Law on Consumer Protection. I have discussed them in the
previous Part. As said by the Regional Commissioner, presently the interaction and the blending
of these institutions is "mechanical"; i.e. as I explain it to myself it is rather an unconscious, non-
voluntary interaction between the bodies that deal with consumer protection, it is a blending that
is accomplished by the artificial forces of the compulsory legal mechanism recently introduced
60
in the Bulgarian judicial system. I argue that ones this interaction becomes conscious, deliberate,
voluntary and naturally occurring then Bulgarian and European Consumers will be better
protected against harmful trade practices.
2. Overview of the questionnaire analysis
This questionnaire was carried out in three different populated areas in Bulgaria between 1
August and 31 August, 2006. The questionnaire appears in the Annex. Half or more of the
questions were utilized from the annual survey carried out by the EU Directorate – General of
Health and Consumer Protection.
The public opinion questionnaire analyzed in this chapter was carried out in one major big city,
one average size city, and one village, in Bulgaria. This part of the dissertation addresses and
measures the level of variety of issues of major concern to Bulgarian citizens in regards to their
consumer protection such as Bulgarian consumers opinions on consumer protection and
consumer confidence issues, consumer knowledge, and Bulgarian consumers and the Single
European Market. In each populated area, the questionnaire was given to a representative sample
of the national population aged 15 and over. A total of 200 people were surveyed, as 114 of
them were female and 86 of them were male. Figures for Bulgaria are presented in this chapter
as the weighted average of all the three different populated areas figures. In the sections on socio
demographic analysis, certain constructed variables come across such as the level of education
and occupation / working position. For example, I borrowed the subjective thresholds for the
level of education from the EU annual survey on consumer protection where there are three
main levels of education. The first level is "poor", which covers those people who left the
educational system aged 15 or earlier; the second level is "average", which covers those
61
individuals who left the system between age 16 and 19, and the third level is "high", which
includes those who finished their education after they were 19 years old.
3. Consumer Protection
The aim of this part is to assess the level of consumer protection and confidence, the extent to
which consumers are informed about their rights, and the extent to which consumers safeguard
their economic interests.
3.1 Consumer protection and confidence
a) Level of consumer protection in Bulgaria (Q.6a)
When asked generally as to whether they believe they have a high level of protection as
consumers in Bulgaria, only about 16 % of the Bulgarians answer positively. On the other hand,
more than half of the Bulgarians answer negatively, which shows that the level of consumer
confidence is quite low taking into account that about 14 % have answered that it "depends" if
they have a high level of protection as consumers and 11 % have answered with "don't know" to
the question. Interestingly enough is that the respondents from the village have the most positive
view on consumer protection where we have nearly 45% that answer positively as opposed to
the respondents from the mid-size town with 8% and the large city respondents with about 17%.
Consequently, we have the highest negative level of response from the mid-size town citizens
with 68% and large city citizens with 62%.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
With respect to socio demographic variables, there is also a considerable amount of variation in
consumer confidence. The variables employed in the questionnaire are gender, age, education,
working position, and place of residence and they all play a role as we will see from the analysis
undertaken. Nearly 19% of the male respondents have answered positively to the high level of
consumer protection as opposed to 13% of the female respondents. Women are slightly more
62
negative than men regarding consumer confidence with about 62% negative response to 56% of
the male responses. On the other hand, age plays a greater role in consumer related issues.
Generally speaking the younger the person the more likely he or she to have confidence in
aspects of consumer protection. Consequently, we have the highest level of consumer
confidence in the "15-24" age group with about 20% and the lowest level in the "55+more" age
group with about 7% of the surveyed that answered positively. Education also plays a role in
consumer related issues as highest positive responses are given by those who are still in the
education system and those who have left it at the age of 16-19, respectively 18% and 16%. The
highest negative response is given by those who have left the education at the age of 15 and
earlier with nearly 67%. In the category of occupation variable, we have the highest level of
positive response among the managers, self employed, manual workers and the unemployed, and
the highest negative response among the retired, workers, and other white collars.
b) Level of consumer protection in the EU (Q6b)
When asked if they believe they have a high level of protection in the European Union, half of
the Bulgarians answer positively with about 51%. Nearly 19% of the Bulgarians believe they do
not have a high level of protection in the EU as a whole. About 17% have said they "don’t
know" and 13% have said that it "depends" if they have a high level of consumer protection. We
can observe the same positive response percentage in the village and mid-size town citizens with
about 52% and 51% respectively, whereas large town respondents are a little bit more
pessimistic than the others with about 44%. The village citizens have the highest "don't know"
answer with about 27%, and the large town citizens have the highest "depends" answer with
nearly 23% within their category.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Nearly 63% of the male respondents answer positively to the high level of protection in the EU
as opposed to the female respondents who have nearly 42%. Women also answer a lot more than
63
men with "don't know" with about 20%. In the age variable, there is no great variation between
the different age groups, however, the "55+more" age group has the highest positive percentage
with 60% as the rest of the age groups are between the variation of 49 – 51%. The age group
"15-24" respondents are a little bit more negative regarding their consumer confidence in the EU
with about 22% "don't know" and "depends" responses. As in the previous question, we can
observe that people who are still in the education system or have left it at the age of 19 and more
have the highest consumer confidence in the EU with about 54% and 60% respectively. In the
category of occupation variable, managers are far ahead of the rest of the categories with almost
78% positive response. Following closely, is the unemployed citizens with about 67%, other
white collars with 58%, and students with 54%. The manual workers answer with "don't know"
the most with about 40% and the retired citizens are most negative regarding their EU consumer
confidence well ahead of others with 30%.
c) Level of safety in products (Q.19)
When asked of the level of safety of products/goods offered on the market, Bulgarians are quite
pessimistic with a way down level of about 4% positive response. Nearly 51% of the people
have answered that products are "not always" safe and about 34% say that products offered on
the market are not safe. Only about 13% have said that they "don't know" if products are safe
enough. Large town citizens are most negative regarding the level of safety of products in
opposition to the village citizens who are slightly more positive regarding product safety than
the rest categories with about 8% positive response. Large and mid-size town citizens believe
that products are not always safe with 61% and 54% respectively, whereas village citizens are
quite ahead with their 37% reply that they have no idea (don't know) of the safety level of
products offered on the market.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
64
There are no great variations in regards to the gender variables where we can observe quite
similar percentage in responses to the product safety level; however, men are somewhat more
positive than women regarding the safety level with nearly 5% "yes" response as opposed to the
women's 3%. In the age group variable, 15-24 and 55+more age groups are seen to be a little bit
more positive in respect to the safety level and vice versa, 25-39 & 40-54 age groups are more
negative to product safety issues in comparisons to the rest of the age groups. The 55+more age
group is far ahead of the others with 67% response that products offered on the market are not
always safe. Education proves a factor that increases the level of confidence in product safety as
those who are still in the education system or have left at the age of 16 -19 and more answer a
lot more positively than those who have left the education system at the age of 15 and earlier. In
general, people of all the age groups believe that products offered on the market are "not
always" safe. Surprisingly, on the other hand, manual workers are the variable group with
highest positive response of 20% followed by the managers with 11% way ahead of the others.
Generally, there is no great variation between the different categories which all believe products
are "not always" safe with the retired citizens leading with 70% a little bit ahead of the rest. The
unemployed citizens are the most to have no idea whether product safety level is sufficient with
about 25%.
d) Level of supervision and control on the market for safer products and services (Q.20)
When asked as to whether they think that surveillance on the market for safety of goods and
services is effective and sufficient, only about 3% of the Bulgarians answer positively. The
majority of the Bulgarians are quite sceptical in regards to the supervision level on products &
services safety as about 58% believe that the level of supervision is not as good as it should be.
Nearly 29% of the people believe that surveillance is "not always" effective and sufficient and
about 11% have said that they "don't know" what the level of supervision is. Citizens of big
populated areas are a lot more positive in regards to the supervision level than smaller populated
65
areas leading with almost 17% of the positive answer. On the other hand, respondents from the
"small or mid-size town" group are ahead of the others with the negative view on the
surveillance level with almost 62% "no" response and the village residents answer with "don't
know" the most with 24% well ahead of the rest.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, men are more positive than women with about 5% positive response and
women are quite ahead of the men to not know what the level of supervision of products and
services is. Other than this, there is no great variation in between as about 58% of the men and
women believe that the supervision level is not sufficient enough. The younger generation
believes they have higher level of supervision than the older one leading with about 6% "yes"
response and the oldest generation is the most to have no idea of the level of surveillance on the
market with about 34%. The “25-39” age group is at the top of the negative response percentage
with about 63% amongst the other categories. As observed in the previous questions, those
Bulgarians who are still in the education system or have left at a later age are the most positive
in regards to the surveillance level and those who have left at the age of 15 or earlier are at the
top to say that the level of supervision is not always efficient with nearly 67% within the
categories. Students and the self employed believe they have efficient level of supervision
considerably more than the rest of the occupation categories with about 6% and 8% positive
response respectively. The manual workers and the retired believe they don't always have
sufficient level of surveillance on the safety with about 40% both. Managers and other white
collars think that the level of supervision is not sufficient enough with about 67% and 68%
respectively.
e) Enforcement of legislation on Consumer Protection (Q.25)
When asked if they think that the legislation on consumer protection is applied in practice,
nearly half of the Bulgarians say that the enforcement is not sufficient and needs to be improved
66
(~50%). Only 9% of the respondents think that it is sufficient, 11% of the citizens don't know
what the level of enforcement is, and 30% of them are very negative in regards to the legislation
enforcement of consumer protection. The positivism is higher in the larger cities and it drops
down in the smaller populated areas. The negativism is higher in the small or mid-size town and
it decreases in the large town category. Bulgarians living in a village are more prone to not know
what the level of enforcement is, and, though people living in a large town are more positive in
regards to the level of enforcement they are also the largest category to believe that enforcement
on consumer rights needs to be improved.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are as twice more positive than women when asked about the level of enforcement and
women believe more than men that the enforcement needs to be boosted up. The “40-54” age
group is most negative among the other groups and, on the other hand, positivism increases as
age decreases. The 55+more age group has the highest percentage to not know what the level is,
and in general all groups think the enforcement should be improved with the “40-54” age group
leading in front. Here as well we can observe that education is a factor to advance positivism as
those who are still in the education system are the most positive ones. At the occupation
category, interestingly, manual workers group answer most positively with about 40% and the
managers and the self employed strongly believe that the legislation enforcement needs to be
advanced with about 67% each. Workers believe that there is no sufficient enforcement with
about 44% a lot higher than the other categories.
f) Governmental efforts on consumer protection (Q.21)
When asked as to whether they think the government exerts enough efforts for the protection of
consumer rights, nearly half of the Bulgarians think that the government doesn't exert "enough"
efforts in the direction of consumer rights with about 51%. About 6% of the citizens believe that
the governmental efforts are sufficient enough, another 6% do not know what the level of efforts
67
is, and nearly 37% are negative regarding the level of efforts exercised by the Bulgarian
Government. Most positive about the efforts on consumer protection are the residents of a large
town followed by the village residents and most negative about the efforts are the small or mid-
size town residents with about 40%. Here again, residents of a village are the most to not know
what the level of governmental efforts on consumer right is.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Women are more negative and more to not know what the level of efforts exercised by the
government and vice versa, men are a little bit more positive concerning the subject. Young
people are more akin to think that the efforts are sufficient enough and the older generation
believes that the government should increase its efforts in the direction of consumer rights. The
“25-39” age group is the most negative among the other groups with about 41% against the
efficacy of governmental efforts. Those ones who are still in the education system are most
positive in regards to the level of efforts while those who have left at the age of 15 or earlier
strongly believe that the government needs to increase its efforts for the protection of
consumers. In the occupational variable, manual works are most positive with about 20% ahead
of the rest; managers, self-employed and the students are most negative regarding the
governmental efforts; and the unemployed are the most to not know what the level of efforts
exercised is.
g) Market surveillance: should Government strengthen and better it? (Q.22)
Nearly 84% of the Bulgarians think that the Government should improve and strengthen the
surveillance on the market regarding safety of goods, the goods of poor quality, and the unfair
trade practices. About 12% of the Bulgarians do not know if the Government should increase its
supervision on the market and another 4% believe that government surveillance is sufficient
enough. Citizens of larger populated areas are more to think that governmental surveillance
68
should increase and citizens from a village are the most to not know if the government should
increase its supervision activities.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variation there is no big difference between the males and the females, however,
men are slightly more positive than women concerning the governmental market surveillance.
On the other hand, we can observe that demand for increase of the governmental surveillance is
going up as age rises and the younger population is more unaware of the level of surveillance on
the market. Those who have left the education system at a later stage or are still in it are more
demanding of the government to increase it surveillance on the market, and those who have left
at earlier age believe more that the surveillance is sufficient enough. The unemployed and the
manual workers are the most ignorant of the level of market supervision and generally all
occupational groups are for increase of the surveillance with the workers, the retired and the
other white collars at the top of the scale.
3.2 Informed Consumers
a) Consumers’ level of knowledge of their rights (Q.7)
Nearly 54% of the Bulgarians think that they do not know enough about their rights as
consumers under Bulgarian laws. About 18% of the Bulgarians do not reply to the question
(don’t know) and about 28% of the Bulgarians believe they know enough about their rights as
consumers. Citizens of a large city are more to think they don’t know enough about their
consumer rights and this trend decreases as the populated area shrinks. Here again, village
citizens are more unaware of their knowledge of consumer rights as almost 24% of them do not
know if they know enough about the subject.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, men think they know about their consumer rights a great deal more than
women do. The same trend applies for the age variable, where, the younger the person the more
69
he or she is to think s/he knows enough about their rights. Those who are still in the education
systems and the ones who have left it at the age of 19 and more believe the most they know
enough about their rights whereas those who have left at the age of 15 or less are the most
unaware as to whether they know enough about their consumer privileges. The managers are at
the top of the scale to know about their rights followed by the manual workers and the other
white collars whereas the retired, the workers, and the unemployed are the most to think they do
not know enough about their consumer rights.
b) Information given by sellers / traders (Q.12)
When asked if they think traders/sellers give sufficient information regarding products they are
to buy or buying, nearly 44% of the Bulgarians think that they are not given enough information
at the time of buying a product. About 13% of the Bulgarians say they do not have time for it,
another 8% of the citizens do not know if they are given sufficient information, and about 35%
think that they are furnished with enough info by the traders/sellers. Nearly 50% of the small or
mid-size town citizens say that they are not given enough info regarding products; almost 19%
of the village citizens do not know if they are supplied with enough info; and about 22% of the
large city citizens say they do not have time to be given enough info and at the same time they
are at the top to say they are given sufficient info along with the village residents.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Interestingly, as opposed to men, women think that they are supplied with enough info by the
sellers more than man do, and their percentage is higher in saying they do not have time to be
given enough info than men's. At the same time, men twice as more than women say that they
do not know if they are supplied with enough information regarding products to buy. In the age
variable, we can examine that the younger the respondents the more they think they are provided
enough information about products and vice versa. On the other hand, the oldest and the
youngest generation are amongst the highest to say that they do not have time and that they do
70
not know if they are supplied with enough info by sellers. Respondents who are still in the
education system or who have left it at a later stage are more to say that they are given enough
info by traders. The workers, the other white collars and the managers are the least to think they
are given enough info about the product they are about to buy.
c) Information regarding labels, ingredients, and contents of products and services (Q.13)
When asked if they read products' or services' labels/contents carefully before and after they
purchase the products or services, nearly 38% of the Bulgarians say that they always read them
before and after they purchase them; another 29% say they read the labels/contents most of the
times; about 7% say they read them in rare occasions; 17% - 14% say they don't always read the
labels (only when it depends) before and after the purchase respectively; and 8% of the
Bulgarians say they don’t read the labels/contents before purchase while 15% state they don't
read them after purchases are made. People resident in a large city tend to read the labelling &
contents most of the times while village residents are in the highest percentage to always read
the labelling and contents of products. At the same time, village residents category has the
highest percentage of the categories to say they don’t read the labels before (13%) and after
(26%) purchase of products.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
There is no great variation in the gender categories, as both females and males tend to read the
labelling and contents always or most of the times; however, men are slightly more to say they
don’t read them after and before a purchase. There is also no great variation in the age
categories, as all of them read the labelling or the contents mostly always or most of the times
before or after purchase, however, the oldest generation has the highest percentage to not the
read the labelling/contents before a purchase is made, and the youngest generation is the most to
say it depends if they are to read the labelling/contents before a purchase. Those with poor
education are the most to say they don’t read the labelling/contents before purchase while those
71
who are still in the education system or have left at a later stage are the most to read the labelling
before and after purchase is made. On the occupational level, managers and self employed are at
the top of the scale to always read the labelling/contents before and after purchase while the
manual workers are the most to say they do not read the labelling before or after purchase.
d) Information regarding clauses in trade contracts (Q.14)
When asked if they read the clauses in the warranties carefully before and after they purchase
the products, about 51% of the Bulgarians say they always read the clauses before they purchase
the product and another 21% say that they read the clauses most of the times before the purchase
is made. About 12% of the Bulgarians say they don’t read the clauses before they buy products
with warranties. We can observe nearly the same trend percentage concerning the warranty
clauses after a purchase is made. According to the statistical data, citizens of larger populated
areas tend to read the warranty clauses before and after purchases are made more than the
citizens living in less populated areas.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
According to the data, more men read the warranty clauses than women before a purchase is
made and also more women than men say they read the clauses in rare occasions only. In the age
variable, there is no great disparity between the different age groups, however, slightly we can
observe that the younger the citizens the more they are to read the clauses before and after a
purchase is made. Bulgarians who are still in the education system or have left it at a late stage
read the warranty clauses before and after a purchase a lot higher than those who have left the
education system earlier. In the occupational variable, managers, students, and the self employed
tend to read the warranty clauses more than the citizens being in another employment category.
e) Information regarding claims for products and services (Q.16)
When asked as to whether they know they can complain and put a claim about a product no
matter if the trader or seller gave them warranties for that product or not, 33% of the Bulgarians
72
believe that this is not possible, nearly 39% say they know about it, about 15% say they don't
know of this rule, and about 13% of the Bulgarians say they don't know if they are aware of this
situation. Large town citizens are more aware of this regulation than citizens of smaller
populated areas and citizens who live in a village are more likely to say that they don’t know if
they are aware of this as well as that they don’t think it is possible to claim for a product without
providing a warranty card.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Women are a lot more likely to say they know they can put a claim about a product without a
warranty card than man, but they are also more likely to think that it is not possible, i.e. if they
put a claim it won't be taken into consideration without providing the warranty. The younger the
respondents the more likely they are to say they know they can claim about a product having no
warranty and vice versa. The 40-54 age group respondents are the most aware of this matter
whereas the oldest group is the most to say they are not aware of it. Citizens who have left the
education very early are a lot more likely to say they don’t know they can claim about a no-
warranty product whereas those with high education level are the most to say they know of this
arrangement and also the more likely for them is to think that it is not possible. The respondents
who are most aware of this regulation are most likely to be managers, self-employed and other
white collars whereas respondents who are the least aware of the arrangement are most likely to
be either retired or unemployed. On the other hand, manual workers are most likely to believe
that it is not possible to claim for a product having no warranty.
f) Knowledge about the New Law on Consumer Protection (Q.24)
When asked if they know that as of 10th June 2006 the parliament passed a new law that contains
most of the European Directive on Consumer Protection, nearly half of the Bulgarians (~49%)
say they have not heard about it. About 30% of the Bulgarians say they were not informed about
it and only 21% say they know about the New Law. Only 5% of the people surveyed who reside
73
in a village say they know about the New Law and they are also more likely to say they were not
informed of it. Respondents who live in larger cities are a lot more likely to have heard and to
know about the new regulation.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, there are no significant discrepancies between the genders – nearly the
same percentages are presented for both of them, however, women are slightly more likely to
know about the New Law. Older respondents are more likely to know about the new regulation
than younger respondents, and the youngest group is the most likely to say they were not
informed of the New Law. Those respondents with higher level of education are the most likely
to say they know about the new regulation and respondents who are still in the education system
are a lot more likely to state they were not informed of the new introduction into the legal
system. In the occupation variable, we can observe again that those who know about the new
law are more likely to be managers, other white collars, and the retired with surprisingly the
manual workers group at the top of the scale.
g) Knowledge about claim registers maintained by sellers / traders (Q.28)
When asked as to whether they know that, according to the New Law, all traders / sellers are
required to keep claim registers and enter all consumer claims in those registers, only 26% of
people surveyed say they have heard about the new regulation, another 34% say they have heard
about it, but don’t think traders abide by this rule, and about 40% of the respondents say they
don’t know about it. Citizens residing in a village are less likely to have heard about the new
regulation and citizens living in larger populated areas are more likely to say they have heard
about it, but don’t think sellers conform to the new regulation.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Women are less likely to know of the new regulation than men, and men have a greater tendency
to think traders do not conform to the legal requirement they know of. The youngest respondents
74
are most sceptical of this issue stating they have heard about it but don’t think traders conform to
it. On the other hand, the mid-age groups have greater tendency to know about and positively
think of the new regulation, and the oldest group is the most likely to not know of the new legal
requirement. Surveyed people with higher level of education are slightly more likely to know of
the new requirement than those with poorer level of education and to think positively about it.
The self-employed are most likely to know about the new regulation, whereas the retired and the
unemployed are the least likely to have heard about the new regulation, and the manual workers,
the students and the managers are the most likely to think that traders do not abide by the new
legal requirement.
h) Knowledge of Consumer Institutions (Q.29)
When asked to indicate which public institutions dealing with market control and surveillance
they have heard about or know of, only 3% of the people surveyed indicated all the institutions
concerned, and nearly 9% of the respondents did not indicate any of the institutions concerned
as most of the respondents that have not heard of any of the institutions tend to live in a village.
74% of the people surveyed indicated they know of the Commission for Consumer Protection as
most of them reside in larger populated areas. Only about 34% of the respondents have heard of
the Regional Inspections for Safeguarding and Control of Public Health; 12% of the people
surveyed have heard of the Public Metrology and Technical Control Agency; about 30% of the
respondents know of the National Health-insurance Fund; about 10% of the Bulgarians have
heard of the Tourism Agency; 25% of the surveyed know of the National Veterinary and
Medical Office; nearly 30% of the Bulgarians have heard about the Regional Municipality Units
for Consumer Protection; about 7% of the respondents know about the Executive Automobile
Administration Agency; and 16% of the Bulgarians say they have heard about the Commission
for Competition Protection. In general, citizens that reside in larger populated cities have a
greater tendency to have heard about the institutions mentioned above.
75
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are more likely to have heard about all of the institutions than women as well as those
respondents being in the "40-59" age group category and the respondents with high education
level. The retired and the unemployed have a greater tendency to not know of all the institutions
concerned and only students and workers indicated they have heard about all institutions that
deal with market control and supervision. In the gender variable, there are no great differences
between the two genders with men slightly more than women to have heard about the concerned
institutions except for the National Health-Insurance Fund and the Tourism Agency where
women have the lead. In the age variable, the mid-age groups' respondents are more likely to
have heard about the institutions concerned except for the Tourism Agency where the youngest
group is at the top of the scale to having heard about it and the Commission for Consumer
Protection with the youngest and the oldest groups above the rest. In the education variable, the
data shows that those respondents with higher level of education are the most likely to have
heard about the institutions dealing with market surveillance. On the whole, Bulgarians who
have heard of the concerned institutions are more likely to occupy the positions of managers,
self-employed, other white collars and students, however, in some instances the retired and the
manual workers are amongst the ones to state they have heard of certain market surveillance
institutions of which the starkest example is the Commission for Consumer Protection.
i) Knowledge of the “Consumers’ Telephone Line” (Q.30)
When asked as to whether the have heard about the Consumer Hot Line dealt by the
Commission for Consumer Protection, nearly half of the Bulgarians (~49%) say they haven't
heard about it. About 27% of the respondents say they know about the Consumer Hot Line and
nearly 15% say they have heard about it, but they would not call there. About 9% of the
respondents say they don’t know if they heard about the line in question. Those respondents
residing in a village are more likely to have heard of the concerned line, but would not make a
76
call there. On the other hand, respondents living in larger populated areas are more likely to
know and think positively of the consumer line.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are slightly less likely to have heard about the consumer line and if heard they are a bit
more negative about the efficiency of it than women. However, it can be seen here that there is a
higher percentage of women than man who did not give a response (don’t know). Respondents
belonging to the intermediate age categories are more likely to know about the consumer line
and respondents belonging to the oldest age group are more likely to think negatively of the line
as well as to not give a response than the rest of the age categories. The knowledge of the
consumer line increases with the level of education. Consequently, those respondents with
higher degree of education are a lot more likely to heave heard about the consumer line than the
respondents with lesser degree of education. Of the occupational categories, the self employed
are the most likely to have heard about the consumer line and following are the other white
collars, the workers and the students with somewhat smaller percentage than the self employed.
Interestingly, the managers and the retired have the greatest percentage than the other categories
to have not heard of the consumer line.
j) Do consumers want to know more about their rights (Q.8)
94% of the people surveyed state they want to know more about their rights as consumers.
Nearly 4% of the respondents say they don’t want to know about their consumer rights and
about 2% of the people surveyed give no response to the question (don’t know). Respondents
living in larger populated areas are a lot more likely to want to know about their consumer rights
as opposed to those respondents living in less populated areas, and people living in a village are
more likely to not give a response to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
77
The analysis of the gender variable shows that there are no great differences between the two
genders; yet, men are proportionately more likely to want to know more about their consumer
privileges. In the age variable, proportionately all age categories have nearly the same
percentages concerning the enhancement of their consumer information. The younger age
groups, though, are more likely to not give a response to the question (don’t know). A positive
relationship can be observed between the level of education and the demand for more consumer
rights knowledge – as higher the level of education as higher the demand for consumer
knowledge. In the socio-professional variable, the managers and the self-employed are the most
confident in their knowledge of consumer rights as they have the greatest percentage in saying
they don’t want to know more about their rights as consumers. On the other hand, students,
retired and manual workers are proportionately more likely to want to know more about their
consumer privileges.
k) Means of information (Q.9)
When asked through which information medium they prefer to be informed about consumer
protection issues, nearly 67% of the people surveyed indicate the television as a medium, 17%
of the Bulgarians indicate the newspapers and the magazines, about 7% of the respondents say
they want to be informed through seminars, about 3% of the respondents show the consumer
consultation desks, 3% of the people surveyed point to the radio as preferred medium, and about
3% of the respondents indicate the "other" option. The last 3% of the respondents have written
the internet and specially designed brochures containing consumer information as their preferred
medium of information. Direct information given by the sellers/traders themselves was written
as an option by one of the respondents as well. Citizens residing in larger cities are more likely
to indicate the seminars as favoured medium, whereas citizens residing in villages tend to
indicate the radio and the newspapers & magazines as medium of information. Citizens residing
78
in small or mid-size town tend to indicate the television, the consumer consultation desks and
"other" proportionately more than the rest of the categories of the populated area variable.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
There is no significance difference between the genders, however, proportionately men are more
likely to indicate the newspapers/magazines and consumer consultation desks response while
women tend to indicate the television and the seminars as medium selection. The television and
the consumer consultation desks are indicated the most by the "55+more" age group; the
seminars are pointed to the most by the youngest age category; the radio is picked up the most
by the intermediate age groups; the newspaper & magazines as well as the "other" response are
indicated proportionately more by the younger age groups. Those respondents with higher level
of education have a tendency to indicate the seminars, the radio, and the consumer consultation
desks as chosen medium while those respondents with poorer level of education have a tendency
to indicate the television and the newspapers/magazines as preferred info medium. The retired
and the manual workers are more likely to indicate the television as a preference medium to be
informed; the seminars are mostly indicated by the unemployed; and managers prefer to be
mostly informed by the newspapers/magazines and the consumer consultation desks.
3.3 Consumers’ economic interests
a) Sale’s slips and warranties given by sellers / traders (Q.10)
When asked as to whether traders / sellers give them sale slips and warranties when purchasing
products, 20% of the respondents say they are given sale slips always, 35% of the respondents
state they are given slips most of the times, about 39% say traders don’t always give them sale
slips, about 5% of the people surveyed say they are given slips only in rare occasions, and only
1% of the respondents say they are not given the concerned slips. As for the warranties, about
52% of the citizens state they are always given warranties, about 27% of the Bulgarians say they
are given warranties most of the times, 14% of the respondents are not always given warranties,
79
5% of the citizens say they are given them only in rare occasions, and about 2% say they are not
given warranties. Citizens residing in large towns are most likely to be given sale slips as well as
warranties and people residing in small or mid-size towns are more likely to not always be given
slips and warranties.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are more likely to be given sale slips and warranties by traders than women, and, on the
other hand, women are more likely to state they are given slips and warranties only in rare
occasions or not always. Respondents from the youngest and the oldest age groups are a bit
more likely to be given sale slips than the rest of the age groups whereas people of the
intermediate age groups are more likely to not always be given sale slips. Regarding the
warranties, there is no significant difference except that the youngest group is more likely to be
given warranties in rare occasions or not always and the oldest group is more likely to say they
aren’t given warranties. Citizens with richer level of education are more likely to be provided
sale slips and warranties than those citizens with poorer level of education. Those respondents
who have left the education system at 15 or earlier are proportionately more likely to not always
be given the slips and the warranties concerned. The managers, the self employed, and the
retired are proportionately more likely to be given sale slips always or most of the times than the
other occupational categories. The other white collars are likely to not always be given sale slips
whereas the students tend to be given sales slips in rare occasions more than the rest of the
categories. The self employed, the managers and the other white collars are more likely to be
always given warranties when purchasing products. The unemployed are at the top of the
percentage scale to be given warranties most of the times, the students are again more likely to
not always be given warranties by the sellers, and the manual workers are proportionately more
likely to state they are not given product warranties.
b) Sale’s slips and warranties requested by customers (Q.11)
80
When asked if they require sale slips and warranties in case traders/sellers do not provide them
when purchases are made, about 15% of the respondents say they always request the sale slip
while 24% state they request the sale slips most of the times. 33% of eth people surveyed don’t
always request a sale slip, another 15% request the slip only in rare occasions, and about 14% of
the respondents say they don’t need a slip therefore they don’t request one. 64% of the people
surveyed state they always request the product warranties when not supplied, nearly 17% of the
people say they request the warranty most of the times, nearly 9% of the respondents say they
don’t always request the product warranty, about 7% of the respondents request the warranty
only in rare occasions, and about 3% of the Bulgarians say they don’t request one, because they
think they don’t need it. Citizens living in a village are proportionately more likely to think they
don’t need a sale slip and a warranty and at the same time they have the greatest percentage in
saying they always request the sale slip and the warranties. People living in larger towns have
the highest percentage in requesting a sale slip only when it depends. In general, no matter the
size of the populated area, citizens have a greater tendency to request the warranty of a product a
lot more than to request a sale slip.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Male have a greater tendency than women to request the sale slips and the warranties when not
provided while women have a greater tendency to state they request them only in rare occasions.
In the age variable, the youngest group has higher percentage in saying they request sale slips
and warranties when it depends; the older age groups have higher percentage in saying they
don’t need the slips and/or warranties;; and the 25-39 age group has higher percentage in
requesting the slips and the warranties always or most of the times. Citizens with higher level of
education have a greater tendency in requesting a sale slips than those citizens with poorer level
of education. However, when it comes to product warranties there is no significant difference
between the education levels – apparently all of the categories are somewhat equally aware of
81
the importance the warranties carry. The self-employed, on the other hand, have the highest
percentage in requesting sale slips while managers have the highest percentage in requesting
warranties out of all occupational categories. The manual workers are more likely to state they
don’t need the sale slips and warranties when compared to the other occupational groups. The
retired and the unemployed citizens have a greater tendency to say they request the slips and the
warranties only in rare occasions.
c) Products bought from Door-to-Door Sellers / Traders (Q.17)
When asked if they would buy goods from a street vendor / door-to-door seller, nearly 56% of
the Bulgarians state they would buy depending on the product or the price, about 34% of the
respondents say they won't buy goods from street vendors, and 10% say they would purchase
goods from the concerned sellers. The small or mid-size town citizens have a greater tendency in
buying products from street vendors depending on the product or the price, the village citizens
are somewhat more negative to the street vendors' products having higher percentage in saying
they won't buy products from them while the large town citizens have a greater tendency in
saying they would buy products from door-to-door sellers.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, there are no great differences between the two genders; however, women
have a greater tendency to buy products from street vendors depending on the product or the
price. The youngest age group are more likely to buy products from street vendors depending on
the product / price, whereas the tendency not to buy products from the concerned sellers
increases proportionately with the age. Those respondents who have left the education system at
15 or earlier have the greatest percentage in purchasing street vendor’s products depending on
the product/price while those respondents with the highest level of education have more
inclination to not purchase from such sellers. The manual worker, the managers, and the workers
have a greater tendency in buying from street vendors depending on the product/price while the
82
retired, the other white collars and the self employed have a higher percentage in preferring not
to buy from the sellers concerned.
d) Safety of products offered by Door-to-Door Sellers / Traders (Q.18)
When asked as to whether they think the goods that street vendors offer are reliable and of
quality, 55% of the Bulgarians state that the products are not always reliable and of quality,
about 6% of the people surveyed say the concerned products are reliable, 28% of the
respondents are negative against such products, and about 11% of the surveyed people do not
give a response (don’t know). Citizens of small or mid-size towns are most negative about the
products sold by the street vendors whereas, surprisingly, people of large town are most positive
out of all groups regarding these products. People of village have the highest percentage in not
giving response to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Male respondents have a greater tendency than women to think that the street vendors’ goods are
not reliable and of quality while women are more likely to state that the reliability and the
quality of the goods is not always sufficient. The oldest age group is the most negative regarding
the quality and reliability of the street vendors’ products and the younger age groups have a
higher percentage in not giving a response to the question. The group with the highest level of
education as well as the group who have left the education at age 15 or earlier have a higher
percentage in saying the goods concerned are not or not always reliable and of quality. In the
socio-occupational variable, the manual workers are the most positive about the quality and
reliability of street vendors’ products while the most negative in this regard are those
respondents being managers and retired. Workers have the greatest tendency in believing that
those products are not always reliable and of quality.
e) Consumers’ claims regarding faulty products (Q.26)
83
When asked as to whether they would complain about a product if they found that there is defect
or flaw in the product, nearly 55% of the respondents state they would complain in case of a
flaw or defect. 27% of the people surveyed say they would complain depending on the product;
nearly 12% of the respondents say they would do so depending on the price of the product;
about 2% of the respondents say they would complain if they knew the trader/seller; less then
2% of the surveyed people state they would not complain; and 3% of the Bulgarians did not give
a response to the question. The product complain percentage increases as the populated area
grows, therefore, consequently those respondents who would complain the least are those
residing in a village and vice versa. The respondents residing in a village also have the highest
percentage in stating they would complain about a faulty product depending on the product, the
price, or if they knew the seller, and they also have the highest percentage in not giving a
response to the question. The ‘depends’ and ‘don’t know’ response percentage diminishes as the
populated area increases.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Women have a greater tendency than men to complain in a case of faulty product while men
tend to complain about a product depending on the various subjects given. The intermediate age
groups have a higher percentage in complaining about faulty products than the other age groups.
The youngest age group is more akin to complain depending on the variables given while the
oldest age group has a somewhat higher tendency to not complain in case of a flaw in the
product. Here education doesn’t prove a big factor to influence citizens in their complain
initiative – the most obvious issue from the data analyzed is that those respondents still being in
the education system are the least to complain about faulty goods and also among the most to
complain about them depending on the variables given in the responses. The retired, workers,
and managers have a greater tendency in complaining in case of a flaw in a product, the manual
workers have a greater tendency to complain about a product depending on the product or the
84
acquaintance with the seller, and the students are likely to complain to a seller depending on the
product and/or the price.
f) Warranties: how fair are clauses for redress (Q.15)
When asked as to whether they think warranties contain enough clauses for compensation in
case of faulty products, nearly 55% of the Bulgarians say that clauses in warranties are not
always fair enough. About 26% of the respondents say the warranty clauses are not fair enough;
12% of the respondents are positive about the clauses saying they are sufficiently fair; and 7% of
the people surveyed did not give a response (don’t know) to the question. We can observe from
the data that the positivism in fairness of the warranty clauses grows as the populated area
shrinks and, consequently, people residing in larger cities tend to be more sceptical regarding the
warranty clauses. Citizens of less populated areas are more prone to not give a response to the
question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, women have a greater tendency in believing the clauses in the warranties
are not always fair whereas men are likely more positive regarding the fairness of the clauses. In
the age variable, the tendency of thinking that clauses are not always fair increases as the age
raises. The intermediate age groups, on the other hand, are more negative in regards to the
fairness of the clauses than the rest of the age groups. The youngest age group has a higher
percentage in not giving response to the question. Citizens with the highest level of education
are observed to be the least positive regarding the fairness of the warranty clauses and citizens
who fall in the poorest level of education group have a higher tendency in believing that clauses
are fair or ‘not always’ fair (about 33% and 66% respectively). In the socio-occupational
variable, manual workers are observed to be a lot more positive in regards to the clauses and
they also have the highest percentage of not giving response to the question. The retired, the
managers and the other white collars have a greater percentage than the rest occupational
85
categories in thinking that clauses are not always fair and the self employed and the managers
are ahead of the others in stating the warranty clauses are not fair enough.
4. Access to Justice
4.1 Complaints made about products and services
a) How often Bulgarian citizens complain about products & services (Q.27)
When asked if they ever had to complain to a salesman, retailer, or a service provider, nearly
43% of the respondents state they have never complained about a product or a service. 27% of
the people surveyed say they sometimes complain to a seller; 25% of the Bulgarians say they
complain to a seller rarely; only 2% of the people surveyed say they often complain about
products or services. About 3% of the respondents did not respond to the question (don’t know).
People residing in small or mid-size town are more inclined to complain to a seller about
products or services while people residing in large town are the least likely to complain about a
product or a service. People residing in a village have the highest percentage in not giving a
response to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, there is no major difference between the genders, however, the women
are observed to be more predisposed to complain to a seller in case of unsatisfactory product or
service. In the age variable, the younger respondents have somewhat higher tendency to
complain about products/services, and the oldest age group have a higher tendency to complain
about products/services on a rare basis. There is no major contrast between the different levels of
education, however, the overall analysis of the data shows that those still being in the education
system and those who have left the education system between the age of ‘16-19’ are to some
extent more inclined to complain about a product or a service. There is no great difference
between the different occupational categories – there is no obvious relationship between the
86
complaint percentage and the occupation the respondents hold. As a portrait of the percentage
scheme, the manual workers and the self employed have the highest percentage in stating they
sometimes complain about product / services; the students and the unemployed are at the top of
stating they often complain to sellers; the managers and the other white collars have a higher
percentage in saying they rarely complain about products.
4.2 Problems encountered when purchasing products or services
a) How many BG citizens are able to find an amicable settlement to their problems (Q.34)
When asked as to whether, in the last 5 years, they have ever had problems they could not settle
amicably with the salesman / retailer / service provider, nearly 42% of the Bulgarians state they
have never had any problems; about 18% of the respondents say they have had problems that
they couldn’t settle amicably;; 18% of the respondents state they have had problems, but they
settled them amicably; and 22% of the Bulgarians did not give a response to the question. The
tendency in having problems which citizens cannot settle amicably increases proportionality
with the size of the populated area. Accordingly, people living in larger towns have a greater
tendency to face consumer problems they cannot settle amicably. Citizens residing in small or
mid-size town have a higher tendency to resolve problems amicably while those citizens
residing in a village have the greatest tendency in not having any consumer problem and they are
also more likely to not give a response to the question (don’t know).
- Socio Demographic Analysis
There is no great variation between the genders in regards to the settlement of consumer
problems, but it can be observed from the data that men are more likely than women to
encounter problems which they equally settle amicably or cannot settle amicably (21% for both
responses). The percentage of respondents, who could settle their problems amicably, increases
as the age rises, and consequently, younger respondents are more likely to encounter consumer
problems they cannot settle amicably. The oldest age group, on the other hand, has a higher
87
percentage in not having any consumer problems in the last 5 years. People who have left the
education system at 15 or earlier and those respondents who are still in the education system
tend to have more problems they cannot settle amicably while those respondents with the
highest level of education have a greater tendency in managing to resolve their problems
amicably. The unemployed and the students have a greater inclination than the rest occupational
categories in not being able to settle their consumer problems amicably, and managers and the
other white collars have a higher tendency in resolving their problems amicably. The manual
workers and the retired citizens have a higher tendency in not encountering any consumer
problems.
b) Solutions reached (Q.35)
Those people, who could not settle their problems associated with the purchase of a product or a
service amicably, were asked what they did when such a solution could not be found. Nearly
65% of the Bulgarians say they did not do anything; about 16% of the respondents say they went
to see a solicitor who brought the matter to court; another 16% of the people surveyed asked for
the advice of a solicitor / consumer association but did not pursue the matter; and nearly 3% of
the Bulgarians say they brought the matter to court themselves. 80% of the citizen of a large
town did not take any action as this trend decreases proportionately with the size of the
populated area. Citizens of a large town are also more likely than the rest of the populated area
categories to take the matter to court themselves.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
An analysis of the socio-demographic variables will be meaningless, because of the very limited
number of people involved in this part of the survey (only 37 respondents). Therefore, the
variables were not analyzed for this particular question.
4.3 Access to justice
88
In the first instance, the circumstances whereby Bulgarian citizens are prepared to take legal
action regarding a problem arising from the purchase of a product or service in Bulgaria are
examined. Then the factor of a joint action with other consumers is assessed in order to find out
if it encourages citizens to go to court. Respondents were also asked questions to determine
whom they trust the most to take the matter to court. Next, the role of the courts, in particular,
the level of trust people have in them is examined, and lastly, the bodies or institutions that
citizens think can best protect their consumer interests are presented.
a) Do BG consumers take a case to court (Q.36)
When asked as to whether they would take the matter to court in case they have a problem with
a product or a service purchased in Bulgaria, 6% of the respondents state they will take the
matter to court no matter what; 38% of the respondents state they will take the matter to court
depending on the product /service; and about 12% of the Bulgarians say they will take the issue
to court depending on expenses related to the legal procedure. Around 13% of the respondents
will not take the matter to court, because it would be useless / they won’t win;; 10% of the
Bulgarians will not take the matter to court, because of the length of the legal procedure; and
about 7% of the respondents won’t go to court due to the complexity of the legal procedure.
13% of the people surveyed did not give a response (don’t know) and almost 2% of the
Bulgarians have given a different response than those provided in the questionnaire. In
summary, 30% of the Bulgarians won’t go to court and about 50% of the Bulgarians will go to
court depending on various issues. People living in larger populated areas are more likely to go
to court than citizens of less populated areas and the product or service matter the most in their
decision making. Citizens living in a village have the highest percentage in not giving response
to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
89
In general, men are more prepared than women to go to court no matter what, while women are
more likely than man to go to court depending on the product or service. "Expenses to the legal
procedure" is a bigger factor for men while considering to go or not to go to court. On the other
hand, women are more influenced by the length and complexity of the legal procedure in their
decision to not go to court. The younger age groups are more likely to go to court while the
biggest reason for the older age groups to go to court is the expenses related to the legal
procedure. The younger age groups also have a higher percentage in believing it would be
useless to go court, because they would not win. Respondents with higher level of education are
more likely to go to court than respondents who have left the education system at age 15 or
earlier. In the occupational variable, managers, students, and self employed are more likely to go
to court depending on the product / service whereas the retired and the manual workers are more
likely to go to court depending on the legal procedure's expenses. The self-employed and the
managers are most influenced by the length of the legal procedure in their decision to not go to
court whereas the retired are more influenced by the complexity of the legal procedure. The
other white collars are most sceptical in regards to the court proceedings having the highest
percentage in believing it would be useless to go to court / they wouldn't win.
b) Does joint action with other consumers encourage BG citizens to defend their rights
(Q.37)
When asked as to whether they would be more willing to defend their rights in court if they
could join with other consumers having the same problem, 46% of the Bulgarians say they
would probably join with other consumers; about 22% of the respondents say they would
certainly join with other consumers; nearly 20% of the citizens did not respond to the question
(don’t know);; about 8% of the respondents say they would not certainly join other consumers in
court; and about 4% say they would not probably join consumers having the same problem. In
summary, nearly 68% of the Bulgarian citizens would be more willing to defend their rights
90
before a court if they could join with other consumers who were complaining about the same
thing while 13% of the respondents would not be prepared to do this. The willingness of
Bulgarians to defend their rights before a court with other consumers increases proportionately
with the size of the populated area. Bulgarians residing in a village have a higher tendency to not
be prepared to join with other consumers in a court case (21%) as well as to not reply to the
question (~45%).
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are slightly more willing then women to defend their rights in court if they could join with
other consumers who were complaining about the same thing. In the age variable, younger
citizens are more prepared to join with other consumers in order to defend their rights (72% of
those in the youngest age groups and 53% of those in the oldest age group). On the other hand,
the proportion of people who agree with this idea increases with the level of education (33% of
those who finished their studies at 15 or earlier, 64% of those who finished the studies between
16-19 years old, and nearly 70% of those who finished their studies aged 20 or older). This rate
is higher for manual workers (80%), students (~73%) and workers (~71%).
c) In whom do BG citizens place their trust to defend them in court (Q.38)
When asked in whom they would have the most confidence to defend their rights in court, 39%
of the respondents say they would trust the most in a solicitor. 23% of the respondents put their
trust in themselves, nearly 11% of the Bulgarians would be more confident to defend their rights
with another consumer having the same complaint, about 8% of the citizen put their trust in
consumer association, about 4% would trust a public service the most, and 3% of the
respondents would trust no one. 12% of the people surveyed did not reply to the question (don’t
know). Citizens of small or mid-size town have the greatest tendency to trust in a solicitor to
defend their rights in a court. The percentage of those who trust in themselves the most is about
the same for all populated area categories while consumer associations are trusted the most by
91
the citizens of intermediately populated areas. Citizen residing in a village have the highest
percentage in not replying to the question (~32%).
- Socio Demographic Analysis
As far as socio-demographic variables are concerned, it is observed that men have more of a
tendency than women to trust in themselves as well as in another consumer having the same
problem whereas women have a greater tendency than men to put their trust in solicitors and
consumer associations. On the other hand, older citizens have higher percentage then younger
ones to trust in themselves, while the younger citizens tend to trust more in solicitors and public
services. The intermediate age groups have higher percentage than the rest to trust in consumer
associations. It can be observed that the level of confidence in consumer associations increases
with the level of education. The students, on the other hand are less likely to trust in themselves
and more likely to trust in solicitors, while those who left the education system at age 15 or
earlier are the least to trust in solicitors. Analysis of the socio-professional variables suggests
that the retired, the managers and the unemployed have more faith in themselves than other
groups do to defend themselves in court. Confidence in consumer associations is highest among
other white collars and managers while manual workers are more willing than the rest to put
their trust in another consumer and public services to defend their rights in court. Solicitors are
most trusted by the other white collars, the self employed and the students.
d) The level of confidence in courts (Q.39)
When asked as to what extent they have confidence in the courts to settle consumer disputes
efficiently, nearly 39% of the Bulgarians say they don’t have very much confidence in the
courts; about 22% of the respondents say they have a fair amount of confidence in the courts;
about 14% of the Bulgarians say they have no confidence at all in the justice system; and only
about 7% say they have a great deal of confidence in Bulgarian courts. 18% of the people
surveyed do not reply to the question (don’t know). Therefore the majority of Bulgarian citizens
92
do not trust the courts to settle consumer disputes efficiently (overall 53% of those sceptical of
the efficiency of the Bulgarian courts). Citizens of averagely populated areas trust the least in
courts to efficiently resolve consumer disputes whereas citizens of large town have a greater
confidence in courts than the rest of the groups.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
There is no significant difference between the genders, however, men are slightly more likely
than women to trust the courts and women have a higher percentage to not reply to the question.
The '55+more" age group has the highest confidence in courts whereas the "40-54" age group
has the least confidence in them. The least educated have less confidence in courts as opposed to
the most educated who have the most confidence in courts. On the other hand, the managers, the
other white collars, and the self-employed have higher confidence in courts than the rest
occupational categories to resolve consumer issues efficiently. The unemployed are the least to
trust the courts to resolve consumer disputes (nearly 67%).
e) Which body can best protect BG consumers’ rights (Q.40)
When asked as to whom they think can best protect their consumer interests, nearly 28% of the
Bulgarians replied that they thought it would be a public body in charge of consumer protection.
Nearly 21% of the respondents think it would be a European public organization in charge of
consumer protection. Next is the court/justice system, where the percentage of people surveyed
believing in it is 13% closely followed by the body set up by consumer associations with nearly
13%. About 4% of the Bulgarians think a body equally made of consumers and salesmen will
protect them best; 3% of the respondents think that would be a body set up by association of
salesmen / retailers; and only about 1% of the Bulgarians place their trust in an
arbitration/mediation/conciliation body. 17% of the people surveyed do not reply to the question
(don’t know). Citizens who reside in a large town tend to think more than the other populated
area groups that the court/justice system, a body equally made of consumers and salesman and a
93
body set by trade association would best protect their consumer interests. Citizens of averagely
populated areas believe the most in bodies set up by consumer associations as well as in
Bulgarian and European public organizations in charge of consumer protection. Citizens
residing in a village have the highest percentage in not replying to the question (about 34%) as
opposed to those living in a large town (about 5%).
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Women have a greater tendency to believe that Bulgarian and European public organizations in
charge of consumer protection can best protect their consumer interests (28% and ~24%
respectively) while men tend to trust in courts/the justice system and bodies set up by consumer
associations more than women to defend best their interests as consumers (16% and 14%
respectively). The court/justice system trust in protection of consumer interests is higher in the
younger age groups and least in the 55+more age group (about 26% of those in the youngest age
group and about 7% of those in the oldest age group). The bodies set up by consumer
associations as well as the public organizations in charge of consumer protection, on the other
hand are believed to best protect the consumer rights by the older age groups the most (age 40
and higher). Respondents of the highest level of education think they would be the bodies set up
by consumer associations, and Bulgarian and European public organization in charge of
consumer protection. Students and those with the least level of education trust the court /justice
system and the European public organizations the most to defend their interests as consumers. In
the socio-professional variable, the managers and the retired have the highest level of confidence
in a body set up by consumer associations. The students and the manual workers have a higher
percentage of confidence in the justice system/the courts; the self employed and the unemployed
trust in a European public organization in charge of consumer protection more than the rest
occupational categories to best protect their interests; the manual workers, the retired and the
94
other white collars have a higher percentage than the other groups to trust in a Bulgarian public
organization in charge of consumer protection to best protect their interest as consumers.
4.4 Consumer Knowledge
a) Access to means of dispute settlement (Q.32)
When asked as to whether they think they can have access to ways to settle disputes or not when
they buy products or services in Bulgaria and the EU respectively, about 36% of the respondents
think they don’t have ways to settle disputes in Bulgaria in contrast to the 22% of those
respondents who think they do have ways to settle disputes in their country. On the other hand,
35% of the Bulgarians think they have ways to settle disputes in the European Union as opposed
to the nearly 14% of the Bulgarians who think they don’t have ways to settle disputes in the EU.
20% of the respondents did not reply to the question asked in regards to Bulgaria and about 40%
of the respondents didn’t answer the question in regards to the EU (don’t know). 20% of the
Bulgarians say that it depends if they would have ways to settle disputes in Bulgaria while only
11% of the Bulgarians answer the same in regards to the European Union. Accordingly, more
Bulgarians believe people have greater access to ways of dispute settlement in the EU than in
Bulgaria. Citizens residing in a large town believe more in the EU ways of dispute resolution as
opposed to those citizens residing in a village who think they have greater access to dispute
resolution in Bulgaria. Citizens residing in average towns are most sceptical about ways of
dispute settlement both in Bulgaria and the EU.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In general, men think they have access to ways of dispute resolution in the EU more than
women do. Women, on the other hand, have higher percentage in thinking that it depends if they
would have access to ways to resolve disputes in both Bulgaria and the EU. The intermediate
age groups have higher tendency to think they have access to ways of dispute settlement both in
Bulgaria and the EU more than the other groups do. The oldest age group has the highest
95
percentage in not replying to both questions (don’t know). Those respondents who fall in the
most educated group or who are still studying have higher tendency to think they have access to
ways of dispute settlement in Bulgaria and the EU than the rest educational categories. Those
respondents who fall in the poorest level of education tend to think they have access to ways of
dispute resolution in the EU rather than in Bulgaria. The manual workers, the self employed and
the unemployed are more likely than the rest of the socio-professional categories to think they
have access to ways of dispute resolution in Bulgaria while the retired and the workers are most
sceptical about having them. The unemployed and the students think they have greater access to
ways of dispute resolution in the EU while the self employed and the retired are most doubtful
about having access to the ways concerned in the EU.
b) Awareness of means to dispute settlement ADR (Q.33)
When asked as to whether they are aware of ways to settle disputes between consumers and
suppliers of products or services such as mediation, arbitration and conciliation, only 20% of the
Bulgarians say they are aware of the ways mentioned. About 34% of the respondents say they
are not aware of such ways of dispute settlement and about 46% of the people surveyed do not
reply to the question (don’t know). The awareness of the dispute settlement ways concerned in
this question is higher in citizens who reside in a small or mid size town.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men are more aware than women of the existence of such bodies of dispute resolution (about
23% and 17% respectively). The percentage of awareness of the mediation/conciliation bodies is
higher in the oldest and the youngest age groups whereas the intermediate age groups have the
highest percentage in not replying to the question. Citizens with the richest level of education
and the students are the most aware of the existence of the alternative dispute resolution ways
while those with the poorest level of education are the least aware of them. The managers, the
retired and the students have a higher tendency to have heard of such ways of dispute settlement
96
while the other white collars, the self employed and the workers have a higher tendency than the
rest occupational categories to not know of such dispute resolution bodies.
c) Involvement of Consumer Associations (Q.31)
When asked as to what they think the level of involvement of consumer associations in
formulating the consumer protection policy is, 72% of the Bulgarians think they should be more
involved in formulating the policy in question. Nearly 6% of the respondents believe the
consumer associations have sufficient involvement in the policy formulation and about 22% of
the people surveyed do not reply to the question. Citizens of a large town have a greater
tendency to believe that consumer associations have enough involvement whereas those
respondents of a small or mid size town are the most to believe that consumer associations
should be more involved in planning the consumer policy. Citizens of a village have the highest
percentage in not replying to the question (~37%).
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, men believe that consumer associations are sufficiently involved in the
policy formulation while women tend to think the consumer associations must be more involved
in it. The intermediate age groups are for more involvement of consumer association in the
policy formulation whereas the youngest age group has the highest percentage in believing there
is enough involvement of the associations already. 53% of those in the oldest age group do not
reply to the question. In the education variable, the majority of the respondents of the highest
level of education as well as the students think that consumer organizations should get more
involved in policy formulation. On the other hand, the manual workers, the other white collars
and the managers have a higher tendency in thinking there is no enough involvement of
consumer associations in formulating the consumer policy and therefore they should be more
involved in it.
d) Integration of Consumer Rights in other policies in Bulgaria (Q.23)
97
When asked if they think they rights as a consumer are sufficiently taken into account in
Bulgarian policies (other than in consumer policy) such as agricultural policy, transport policy,
energy policy, telecommunication or competition policies, half of the Bulgarians (50%) think
there is “no enough” integration of consumer rights into other Bulgarian policies. Nearly 33% of
the respondents say there is no integration at all of consumer rights in other policies and only
about 6% of the respondents think consumer rights are sufficiently taken into account when
formulating other Bulgarian policies. 11% of the people surveyed do not reply to the question
(don’t know). The tendency of thinking there is “no enough” integration of consumer rights
increases as the size of the populated area increases. Citizens of a village have the highest
percentage in thinking there is sufficient integration of consumer rights and citizens of small or
mid size town are most negative about the integration of the rights concerned into other
Bulgarian policies.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, women have a greater tendency to believe that there is no enough
integration of consumer rights into other Bulgarian policies than men do. The older age groups
are more akin to think that consumer rights are not sufficiently taken into account when
formulating other policies and the same trend applies to those respondents with higher level of
education and the students. Most negative about the integration of consumer rights are those
respondents of the 25-39 age group and those who have left the education system at 15 or
earlier. On the other hand, most positive about the integration are those of the youngest age
group and consequently those being still in the education system. The managers, the other white
collars, the self employed and the students have higher tendency than the other occupational
categories to think there is “no enough” integration of consumer rights in other Bulgarian
policies. Most negative about the integration of the rights concerned are the unemployed and the
retired and most positive about them are the manual workers.
98
5. Bulgaria’s EU accession and consumer protections
This part examines the attitudes of Bulgarian citizens towards the Single EU market where they
are asked of their opinions in regards to the price, quality and choice of products and services
offered on the EU market. Then the attitudes of Bulgarians towards consumer protection, market
supervision and control issues are analyzed to measure how Bulgarians feel about these issues
upon Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union.
5.1 Bulgarian Consumers and their attitude towards the Single EU Market (Q.41)
Bulgarian citizens where asked what they thought of the effect the Single EU Market had on the
following:
a) Price of non-food products
17% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the price of non-food products is very positive; 21%
say it’s fairly positive;; nearly 18% think it’s fairly negative;; about 10% say it’s very negative;;
and about 3% say there is no effect. About 31% of the respondents did not reply to the question
(don’t know). Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the effect of the Single
EU Market on the price of non-food products whereas people residing in a small or mid-size
town are most negative about the effect concerned. 71% of the people residing in a village did
not give response to the question.
b) Price of food products
Nearly 18% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the price of food products is very positive; 22%
say it’s fairly positive;; about 18% think it’s fairly negative;; 13% say it’s very negative;; and 3%
say there is no effect. 26% of the respondents did not reply to the question (don’t know). The
same trend applies here as well: Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the
effect of the Single EU Market on the price of food products whereas people residing in a small
99
or mid-size town are most negative about the effect concerned. Again 71% of the people
residing in a village did not give response to the question.
c) Price of Services
Nearly 12% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the price of services is very positive; nearly
21% say it’s fairly positive;; about 21% think it’s fairly negative;; 10% say it’s very negative;; and
2% say there is no effect. About 34% of the respondents did not reply to the question (don’t
know). Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the effect of the Single EU
Market on the price of services and people residing in larger cities are observed to be more
negative about the effect concerned. About 74% of the people residing in a village did not give
response to the question.
d) Quality of non-food products
Nearly 26% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the quality of non-food products is very
positive;; 34% say it’s fairly positive;; about 4% think it’s fairly negative;; another 4% say it’s
very negative; and about 5% say there is no effect. About 27% of the respondents did not reply
to the question (don’t know). Here again we have Bulgarians residing in a large town being most
positive about the effect of the Single EU Market on the quality of non-food products whereas
people residing in a small or mid-size town are most negative about the effect concerned. About
71% of the people residing in a village did not give response to the question.
e) Quality of services
Nearly 29% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the quality of services is very positive; about
31% say it’s fairly positive;; about 4% think it’s fairly negative;; 3% say it’s very negative;; and
6% say there is no effect. 27% of the respondents did not reply to the question (don’t know). We
can observe that here the same trend applies where Bulgarians residing in a large town are more
positive about the effect of the Single EU Market on the quality of services. In contrast to the
previous questions on the effect of the Single EU Market, people residing in a small or mid-size
100
town are more positive towards the effect on the quality of services. About 68% of the people
residing in a village did not give response to the question.
f) Choice of non-food products
Nearly 24% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the choice of non-food products is very
positive;; 30% say it’s fairly positive;; about 6% think it’s fairly negative;; only 1% of the
respondents say it’s very negative;; and 4% say there is no effect. 35% of the respondents did not
reply to the question (don’t know). The same tendency is observed for this question as in the
above one: Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the effect of the Single
EU Market on the choice of non-food products with people residing in a small or mid-size town
closely following them. About 71% of the people residing in a village did not give response to
the question.
g) Choice of food products
30% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the choice of food products is very positive; about
27% say it’s fairly positive;; 5% think it’s fairly negative;; nearly 2% say it’s very negative;; and
4% say there is no effect. 32% of the respondents did not reply to the question (don’t know).
Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the effect of the Single EU Market
on the choice of food products and citizens residing in a small or mid-size town have a higher
negative percentage than the other groups towards the effect concerned. About 74% of the
people residing in a village did not give response to the question.
h) Choice of services
30% of the Bulgarians think the effect on the choice of services is very positive;; 28% say it’s
fairly positive;; about 7% think it’s fairly negative;; nearly 2% say it’s very negative;; and another
2% say there is no effect. About 31% of the respondents did not reply to the question (don’t
know). The tendency that we observed in the above questions regarding the effect of the Single
Market relates to this one as well: Bulgarians residing in a large town are most positive about the
101
effect of the Single EU Market on the choice of services and citizens residing in a small or mid-
size town have a higher negative percentage than the other groups towards the effect concerned.
About 63% of the people residing in a village did not give response to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, men tend to be more positive about the effect of the Single EU Market on
the price, quality and choice of products and services while women have a higher percentage
than men to not reply to the questions (don’t know) or to state there is no effect at all. In the age
variable, it is observed that, where the prices of products and services are concerned, the
tendency to think that the impact of the EU on prices is positive increases as age declines,
therefore, younger citizens are more positive in this respect than the older ones. Where the
quality and the choice of products and services are concerned, the situation is a bit different than
we have had for the prices. It can be observed that for the impact of the EU on the quality and
choice of products and services more positive are the youngest and the oldest age groups while
the “25-39” age group is more negative of the impact than the rest of the age categories. The
intermediate age groups also have the highest percentage of not giving reply to the questions. In
the education variable, in general, those respondents who fall in the highest level of education
and those who are still in the education system are more positive in regards to the EU impact on
the price, quality & choice of products and services except for the question regarding the choice
of non-food products where those being still in the education system are replaced with those
who have finished their studies between the age of 16-19. Those respondents falling in the
poorest level of education usually have a higher tendency of not replying to the questions. In the
socio-occupational variable, we have tendencies differing for the prices on one hand and the
quality and choice of products & services on the other hand. Consequently, in regards to the EU
effect on the prices of the products & services, we have the managers, the students and the other
white collars with higher positive approach and, on the other hand, the retired citizens with
102
higher negative attitude towards the impact concerned. In regards to the impact of the EU on the
quality and choice of products and services, we have the retired, the students, and the workers
with higher positive approach and, on the other hand, the manual workers with higher negative
stance on the issues. In general, the manual workers and the unemployed have a higher
percentage of not replying to the questions presented.
5.2 Bulgarian Consumers and their attitude towards consumer rights and market surveillance
(Q.42)
a) Bulgaria’s EU accession and consumer rights
When asked if they thought they would have better protection of their consumer rights after
Bulgaria’s accession in the European Union, nearly 67% of the Bulgarians believe they will
have better protection of their consumer rights upon Bulgaria’s accession. About 11% of the
respondents are negative about the accession effect saying they will not have better consumer
protection and 23% of the Bulgarians do not reply to the question (don’t know). The tendency to
think consumer rights will be better protected after accession increases as the size of the
populated area increases (about 83% of those residing in a large town and 50% of those residing
in a village). Citizens of a village have a higher percentage in not replying to the question.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
In the gender variable, men have a higher positive approach to consumer protection after
accession in the EU (70% men and 61% women) while women have a higher percentage in not
replying to the question. The “55+more” age group have a higher tendency to think that
consumer protection will get better after accession while the younger groups are slightly more
negative about it. Education is a big factor that influences the attitude of people towards
consumer protection after Bulgaria’s accession. Here we have the highest positive percentage of
those who have left studies at the age of 20 and more that are closely followed by those
respondents who are still studying (76%). People of the poorest level of education are most
103
negative about after accession’s consumer protection and also they have the highest percentage
of not replying to the question. In the socio-occupational variable, we have the managers
(100%), the retired (80%) and the other white collars (79%) with the highest positive attitude
towards consumer protection after the accession. The workers, on the other hand, are the most
negative about it.
b) Bulgaria’s EU accession and market supervision and control
When asked if they thought they would have better market surveillance after Bulgaria’s
accession in the European Union, nearly 72% of the Bulgarians believe they will have better
market surveillance after Bulgaria joins the EU. About 8% of the people surveyed believe they
will not have better market surveillance and 20% of the respondents do not answer the question
(don’t know). We can observe that we have the same positive trend of increase in the
respondents’ tendency of better market surveillance attitude that is proportional to the increase
in the size of the populated area, and accordingly, we have about 78% of those residing in a
large town versus the 55% of those residing in a village.
- Socio Demographic Analysis
Men tend to be more positive than women in regards to the market surveillance upon Bulgaria’s
accession in the EU (73% men and 70% women). We can observe that the tendency of thinking
that Bulgarians will have better market surveillance after accession increases as the age
decreases with about 76% of those in the youngest age group. As observed in the previous
question, citizens having higher level of education tend to be more positive about after
accession’s market surveillance and here we have 86% of those who are still studying and 77%
of those who have finished their studies at the age of 20 or more. Profession wise, we have the
managers (100%), the other white collars (about 90%), and the students (85%) with the highest
positive stance towards market surveillance after Bulgaria’s accession in the European Union
while workers are the most negative about it.
104
PART IV
1. Recommendations
In this final part, I would like to discuss on and analyze the findings of the questionnaire I
carried out this summer with the intention of testing the hypotheses I have written about in the
previous part. Recommendations and future expectations will be presented accordingly.
As seen from the data analysis of the questionnaires, more than half of the Bulgarians think they
don’t know about their rights (see Figure 1). In addition, almost all people surveyed stated they
would like to know more about their rights and the most preferred medium of information are
the television, the newspapers& magazines and seminars (see Figure 2).
Perc
ent
60
50
40
30
20
10
Level of Consumer KnowledgeDon't KnowYes
0
No
Do you think you know enough aboutyour consumer rights?
Perc
ent
100
80
60
40
20
Don'tKnow
No0
Yes
Would you like to know more about yourrights?
At the same time, most of the Bulgarians are also unaware of the adoption of the New Law on
Consumer Protection. Nearly half of the people surveyed stated they have not heard about the
New Law, which in itself is a sign of the lack of knowledge of consumers (see Figure 3).
Figure 1 Figure 2
105
21.0%
30.5%
48.5%
Yes, Iknow
I wasn'tinformed
No, I don'tknow
Knowledge about the New Law on ConsumerProtection
According to the data taken from the analysis, most of the citizens are also unaware of the
existence of claim registers in trade places, the "Consumers" Telephone Line, and most of the
Institutions dealing with consumer protection except for the Commission for Consumer
Protection. In the research, I have also found out that people are uninformed of the importance
of the sale slip that acts as a purchase contract or a warranty of the product or service bought.
Another area of concern is the products bought from street vendors/door-to-door sellers.
Usually, products from such traders are not always safe, reliable and of quality, however, due to
lower prices offered by door-to-door sellers products become attractive for citizens. The
problem with such products is that they are not provided warranties or sale slips. In case of a
flaw in the product, no consumer can claim their rights for redress and, in addition, it is highly
unlikely that one will manage to find the trader in question. The same goes for the so called
“Euro-Shops” where they sell products for the price of one to five euros in Bulgarian Leva or in
some places they are also called “One-Lev Shops”. Interestingly, even after the adoption of the
New Law for Consumer Protection I kept seeing notices in such shops saying that you can claim
or complain about a product only at the counters, which is of course, contrary to the Law. The
point here is that, because of the low income level of the Bulgarian citizens, people tend to go to
such shops and buy products at a cheaper price not thinking about the consequences of such an
action. Obviously, these products are not very durable and in case of a flaw you cannot
complain, because the notices at the counters speak for themselves. According to me, Bulgarian
Figure 3
106
consumers are either uninformed and lack knowledge of their rights as consumers, or they
simply do not care about their rights. While I was handing out the questionnaire to the people,
some of them even asked me if they had consumer rights in Bulgaria – and that is after the
adoption of the New Law that contains most of the EU Directives. The findings of the survey
and the attitude of the surveyed people confirm my opinion that Bulgarian consumers lack
enough information about their rights and privileges. In addition to this, a recent survey (April
2007) conducted by pollster Alfa Research in Bulgaria shows that citizens are rarely pursuing
their consumer rights. According to their findings, only 13% of the survey’s respondents have
ever tried to find out more about their consumer rights meaning that Bulgarians are not really
interested in their rights as consumers.
I therefore think that the introduction of consumer related lectures in secondary schools is a step
forward in the creation of a strong consumer culture in Bulgaria. In Poland, for example, the
Polish Consumers Federation introduced consumer education in schools in the late 90’s, an
initiative that was supported by then State Office for Competition and Consumer Protection and
although consumer education was not included specifically on the national curriculum. The first
attempt to introduce consumer education into Polish Schools was done in 1995 by the same
Federation and under the funding of the EC PHARE programme27. In Bulgaria, the first attempt
to introduce consumer education was done in the late 90’s by the Bulgarian Consumers
Federation, however, the attempt was done through the so-called “green schools” that provide
extra-curricular activities for students and are not compulsory. At that time, the Federation
managed to reach agreements only with a couple of schools regrettably and there is no
information as to whether these green schools continue with the activities to introduce the theme
of consumer protection. 27 The Polish Consumers Federation completed the programme “Consumer Education in Primary and Secondary Schools” in 1995. The programme was funded by the European Commission PHARE programme and coordinated by the State Office (see NICE-Mail No 4 1995).
107
According to the National Programme for Improvement and Development of the Primary and
Secondary Education (2006 – 2015)28 drawn by the Ministry of Education and Science in
Bulgaria, changes in the curriculum and the teaching material should be the result not only of an
administrative decision. In order for the changes to be feasible and well-defended and at the
same time reflecting the socio-economic realities, it is necessary that a public discussion is
organized with the active participation of teachers, parents, NGOs and employers. Therefore, I
believe that with the determination of the Government and the consumer organizations
consumer education in Secondary Schools could be smoothly introduced in the national
curriculum. The introduction of consumer education in schools will imply the establishment of
extensive network of contact schools and teachers that might be provided by the Commission for
Consumer Federation or the consumer organizations. The education programme should allow
students to be familiar not only with the legal framework of consumer protection issues but also
allow them to get accustomed to every day situation through role-play followed up by analysis
of their own behaviour. As a supplement to this, the Commission and the consumer
organizations might supply schools with published material containing developments of
consumer related issues. As previously done in Poland, the Bulgarian Government or the
consumer organization might benefit of the EU funding programme in order to realize this
project. As a matter of fact, the EU Commission has launched the Inter-Active Consumer
Education project in cooperation with higher education institutions where certain web-based
consumer education tools are provided for trainers and other multipliers in consumer education
and the consumers. As a result, Hypothesis One is proven right.
28 For more information and the PDF format of the programme visit www.minedu.government.bg
108
The second hypothesis also proves efficient and feasible according to the findings of the
questionnaire. As seen on the figure below, most of the citizens prefer being informed by the
television medium followed by the press and consumer related seminars (Figure 4).
3,5%
17,0%
3,5% 3,0%6,5%
66,5%
Percent
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
RadioOtherConsumerConsultation Desks
SeminarsNewspapers /
Magazines
0Television
Prefered Medium of Info
Here, I have not included the internet as an option, because there is plenty of information on the
internet regarding consumer rights, however, not many of the Bulgarian citizens can log on to
the internet and digest the info from there. The biggest reason for this is that not many of the
citizens have sufficient purchasing power to buy computers and to pay monthly for internet
subscription. Besides, the IT is relatively new stream in Bulgaria which needs to be boosted and
that could be done by improving the macro-economy that has the biggest impact on computer
penetration & usage in Bulgaria. According to a recent survey conducted by the Marketing
Research Agency in Bulgaria, total percentage of internet users in Bulgaria is 29.3% as internet
usage from home is 15.10%, internet usage from Internet clubs is 14.80%, and usage from
elsewhere is 9.30%. In addition, according to a report by Learn Link (USAID) nearly the entire
internet users live in big cities with only two to three percent residing in small towns and besides
in towns and villages, where Internet access is available the average costs for services is almost
twice as high as in the cities.
Figure 4
109
Consequently, the introduction of programmes on the television, specially addressed articles on
the press, and consumer related seminars in Bulgaria will help enhance consumer knowledge.
The most influential way to this, I believe, is to broadcast weekly programmes on the Bulgarian
National TV channel (BNT) that is watched almost by the entire Bulgarian population. Since it
is controlled and regulated by the Government it should be relatively trouble-free for the
Government to introduce consumer related programmes. While doing my research, I have found
out that 2 years ago there was a programme on the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) that is
the first and consequently the oldest TV channel in Bulgaria. The programme discussed
consumer related problems and how the take preventive measures against issues that might hurt
the end-user of products and/or services. There were two incidents of consumer problems shown
on the programme – one related with a customer who bought an expensive pair of shoes that
happened to have flaw in it, and the second one related to a newly purchased washing machine
that did not correspond to the features and quality guaranteed. Although two years have passed
since the programme was shown, people still remembered every detail about the consumer
problems discussed in it. On the other hand, I think that the press is also very dominant and
powerful medium of information in the country. The Government could use incentives for the
press to publish articles on consumer protection with the help of the Commission for Consumer
Protection and the consumer organizations. Allocating proper and sufficient funding for the
Centres of the Commission for Consumer Protection and the consumer organizations with the
aim of increasing the number of seminars to the public, especially for adults and for those
residing in smaller towns and villages will be of crucial importance since the greatest lack of
knowledge is observed in there. The use of specially designed brochures with easily-understood
& summarized information at these seminars could also be an effective way of retention of
110
consumer education. Therefore, Hypothesis Two is proven right according to my
observations.
The third hypothesis assumed the amplification of consumer organizations. As observed from
the data collected, 72% of the Bulgarians think that these organizations should be more involved
in formulating consumer policies (Figure 5).
Enoughinvolvement
Don't knowMore involved
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
5,5%
22,5%
72,0%
Involvement of Consumer Associations in consumerprotection policy
Consequently, the majority of the Bulgarians think that consumer organizations should play a
bigger role when it comes to consumer issues. The question is how? As discussed in the
previous chapters, the level and the number of consumer organizations are deficient for the
establishment of an adequate balance between the traders / the government and the consumers.
Consumers are in not very favourable position when compared to the other two, since they lack
the appropriate level of knowledge and since there is no satisfactory efficiency of the current
consumer organizations. As I stated above in the previous chapters, I think that consumer
organizations are the mirror of the consumer culture in the country. The lack or the presence of
such strong and independent consumer organizations therefore shows the level of that country's
consumer culture. In the interview with the Regional Consumer Protection Commissioner in
Plovdiv, he stated that consumer organizations were not as strong as the consumer organization
in the European Union; rather, he said they were like "one-day flies where they are born, active
Figure 5
111
for a day and then die." This is the situation with most of the consumer organization in Bulgaria,
because they lack funding. For the organizations to reach a satisfactory level they have to be
properly funded – something that is in deficiency in Bulgaria. There are plenty of options
available for such organizations to become more active, endurable and long-lasting. Consumer
Organizations might be funded by the government in the first place, by the EU and by other
International Organizations29 that provide funding for NGOs provided that consumer
organizations draw feasible projects that have a high chance of approval. On the other hand, for
consumer organization to be able to draw high-quality projects, their members should have
adequate level of knowledge. Consequently, if the first two hypotheses come into place, then we
will have better informed consumers which will lead to higher participation and membership in
consumer organizations with knowledgeable members who will be able to draw and defend the
projects in question. I therefore believe that education and information is a key approach in
amplifying the relevant organizations. I would like to also add to the options above the chance of
funding of consumer organization by the citizens themselves. In some European countries,
citizens subscribe to consumer organizations and in case of consumer related problems the
organization subscribed to provides its service to its subscribers - a mutual process that not only
help fund the organizations but is also a win-win situation for both sides.
In addition to this, the Government should play one of the biggest roles in the strengthening of
such organizations. In my opinion, one of the Government short and long-term objectives should
be the establishment of better represented consumer organizations that will have the adequate
budget to run their activities. The Government and/or the Commission for Consumer Protection
should provide incentives for citizens to take part in such organizations and technical assistance
to these organizations such as training or network services. Consequently, increased, better 29 For example, USAID provides funding for NGOs and has an already established programme in Bulgaria for NGOs funding under the name of “Increased, Better-Informed Citizens’ participation in Public Policy Decision-Making, 183-021
112
informed citizens’ participation in consumer organizations will lead to better participation of the
last in consumer policy decision-making. What's more, the EC has recently launched training
courses30 for staff of consumer organizations that aim at improving the effectiveness of
consumer organizations. One of the EC priorities is the consumer organizations’ involvement in
EU policy-making with the view of the pursuit of the “integration” of consumer concerns in all
EU policy areas. These training courses are open to personnel of consumer organizations of all
EU countries and they can be of help to the Bulgarian consumer organizations since Bulgaria
has become one of them. As the European Commission states “if consumer organizations are to
be stronger at national and European level, they should work together on certain issues,
exchange best practices and reinforce their networking”. Accordingly, Hypothesis Three
proves right.
I would like to embark on the Bulgarian justice system now. As I stated in the hypothesis, if
there is going to be better protection of consumer rights then the justice system needs to be
improved and the trust of the citizens in this system revived. The analysis of the questionnaire
shows that Bulgarian citizens don’t have a lot of trust in the courts.
OtherYes, Iwould
No, thelegal
procedurewould be
toocomplicate
d
No, thelegal
procedurewould betoo long
Dependson the
expensesrelated tothe legal
procedure
It would beuseless / Iwould not
win
Don't KnowDependson the
product /service
40
30
20
10
0
Percent
1,5%
6,0%7,5%
10,0%11,5%12,5%13,0%
38,0%
Would you take a consumer related matter to court?
30 Further information and on-line registration for the training courses is available at: www.trace-beuc.org
Figure 6
113
As seen on the figures above (Figure 6) and below (Figure 7 & 8), consumers are not very
willing to place their trust in courts when it comes to consumer protection. Bulgarians tend to
trust a public organization in charge of consumer protection and/or European public organization
for consumer protection such as the relevant Commissions according to the answers provided for
in question 40 of the questionnaire. Only 13% of the people surveyed said they believe courts
can best protect their consumer rights which in itself is a sign of the general mistrust citizens
have in their courts.
a great dealof confidence
no confidenceat all
Don't Knowa fair amountof confidence
not verymuch
confidence
40
30
20
10
0
Percent
6,5%
14,5%
18,0%
22,5%
38,5%
Level of confidence in BG courts
17,0%
0,5%
20,5%
27,5%
12,5%
3,0%
4,5%
1,5%
13,0%
Don't KnowOther
A European publicorganization in chargeof consumer protect
A public organizationin charge of consumerprotection
A body set up byconsumer associations
A body set up byassociation ofsalesman / retailers /trade
A body equally madeof consumers andsalesman / retailers /
An arbitration /mediation /conciliation body
A court / the justicesystem
Which body can best protect your consumer rights?
Therefore, I still believe that if the justice system is to be improved then this will ensure the trust
of the citizens in it and will consequently provide for better protection of consumer rights. Here
again, I would like to mention about the interview I had with the Regional Commissioner in
Figure 7
Figure 8
114
Plovdiv. When I went to the Regional Consumer Protection Commission Office, I found out that
there were no other personnel but the Regional Commissioner, Mr. Dimitar Minchev. During
our interview, Mr. Minchev explained that all the personnel were attending court proceedings of
consumers who were having problems. Consequently, we started discussing the Bulgarian
judicial system that we observed to have many hinders in it. Apparently, when a problem is
taken to a court it takes a long time for the problem to be resolved. The situation being like that,
the Regional Commission's personnel were taken precious time when sent to attend court
proceedings. I say precious time, because the prolonged time spent in courts could be used to
improve, for example, the workings of the Commission's Office, the surveillance of the trade
places, and to enhance consumer knowledge by handing out specially designed brochures or by
organizing seminars to the public. Mr. Minchev stated that the number of his personnel was also
insufficient for the efficient working of the office taking into account the number of complaints
made to the Regional Commission every month and taking account of the inspections that the
personnel had to conduct on a regular basis. As he stated, with the insufficient number of the
personnel and the prolonged court proceedings the Office is wasting human, material and
financial resources at the same time, therefore, the main activities of the Regional Commission
Office were neglected most of the time. The situation of the Regional Commission Office
applies to all of the Offices of the Commission for Consumer Protection.
In addition, Bulgaria has been and continues to be criticized by the European Commission in
regards to the status of the Justice and Home Affairs Department. As stated by Mr. Geoffrey
Van Orden31, EU reporter for Bulgaria, the solution to the problems of the Bulgarian judicial
system requires much longer period than expected by the EU Commission. Just before the
entrance of Bulgaria into the EU, the internal EU report strongly criticized Bulgaria’s strategy 31 During his speech in March 2006, The EU reporter for Bulgaria added that Bulgaria would probably enter on January 1, 2007, but one of the safeguard clauses – the one in Chapter 24, Justice and Home Affairs – would be activated. Criticism in general was focused on the pace of curbing crime and corruption.
115
for judicial reforms stating that the country judicial system was still chaotic and “out of touch
with the principles of the block”32. The EU report criticised the nepotism in judge selections and
the low technical quality of the Bulgarian laws. The report said that the situation was further
aggravated by the population’s distrust to their own judicial system. As to prove my point,
“Bulgaria joined the European Union on January 1 2007, but the functioning of its judiciary and
the country’s failure to combat corruption prompted the EU to apply the strictest ever
monitoring mechanisms on the Balkan newcomer”33. According to a report published by the
Bulgarian-based NGO at the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS)34 last year, in general the
Bulgarian judicial system does not differ from the judicial systems in most of the member
countries; however, although the system was operating relatively well it did not mean that it did
not have problems. The most problematic areas as stated on the report were the fight against
organized crime, money laundering, corruption level among high-level state official and lack of
co-ordination among institutions when it comes to providing information about the system.
There is a close connection with these problems and the trust that the general public has in the
courts. Though the judicial system is not performing badly in other areas, the problems in these
areas lead the population think that the inefficiency of the courts covers all aspects of the justice
performance. And regrettably this situation is exacerbated by the wide-spread criticism against
the system as a whole which further undermines citizens’ confidence in it, and fuels the
influence of populist rhetoric. The report by itself is a quite realistic reflection of the status of the
courts and it provides possible solutions for the improvement of the justice system in Bulgaria
such as stepping up the performance of institutions in specific areas (corruption etc.), the
improvement of the coordination between the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Judicial
Council, opening the judicial system to the public, and encouraging its cooperation and dialogue 32 As reported by International Herald Tribune 33 As stated by Novinite, the Sofia News Agency, on 27th April 2007 in an article on the Judicial System Bill. 34 A project of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, in cooperation with the Supreme Judicial Council and the Embassy of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria named “Strengthening the Policy Making Capacity of the Bulgarian Judicial System”
116
with other branches of power. In addition to the project of the CLS there was also another
project in Bulgaria supported and funded by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) named “Judicial Strengthening Initiative”. This project aimed at
improving overall court administration along with efforts to increase public awareness and is
still going on.
In spite of the on-going projects in Bulgaria, just recently the European Round Table of
Industrialist, an influential European pressure group35, has said that it will seek the urgent
intervention of the Bulgarian Government to tackle the problems of the sluggish and protracted
court proceedings and biased settlement of company disputes. As a result, I strongly suggest that
if Bulgaria is going to establish a strong consumer culture then the problems with the judicial
system should be solved in the near future and legislation reform should be given priority so as
to enhance citizens’ trust in the system and bring forward better protection of consumer rights.
As a result of the findings, Hypothesis Four is proven right.
In addition to improvements of the justice system, I have brought forward the argument that if
ADR bodies are to be introduced intensively to the Bulgarian society then it will lift some of the
load off the judiciary and augment the protection of consumer rights. As known, Alternative
Dispute Resolution or ADR is most often used to describe any dispute resolution process other
than a trial in court. There are various types of ADR methods such as arbitration that is binding
and mediation that is non-binding and also conciliation, cooperative problem solving, dispute -
panels, early neutral evaluation, facilitation, fact-finding, interest based problem-solving, mini-
trials and so on. The only ADR body that is currently functioning in Bulgaria is the Arbitration
35 The Euro industrialists held their 8th annual meeting with the Bulgarian government in Sofia where they criticized the Bulgarian judicial system (reported by Dnevnik)
117
Court at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry36 that was established about 110
years ago as a Court of Conciliation at the same Institution. The Court of Conciliation began to
act as a voluntary arbitration court since 1989 that is since the fall of Communism in Bulgaria.
Apart from this court there are no other bodies dealing with alternative dispute resolution
methods such as conciliation, negotiation and mediation. As a result, the use of ADR methods is
limited to the Arbitration Court in Bulgaria mostly. In addition to it, the American Bar
Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI) has been providing
assistance in Bulgaria since 1991 in Sofia and some other major cities by providing assistance
and training to attorneys in mediation skills and by providing informational training on
mediation to judges and citizens.
The benefits that could be expected in applying ADR methods in consumer dispute settlement
are:
Greater likelihood of reaching a resolution without the ill will and negative publicity of
court cases (since traders are involved in the process along with consumers)
Speed: Reduced time in settling disputes
Increased confidentiality, both as to the existence of the dispute and the terms of its
resolution
Less reliance on local courts, which should reduce the risk of an unpredictable result
Cost saving: compared to court trials ADR methods are not expensive
Better results: the resolutions are usually created by the parties, they work for them
36 For more information about this court visit www.bcci.bg
118
The data analyzed from the questionnaire proves my view that most consumers are unaware of
the existence of such ADR methods. Only 20% of the Bulgarians say they have heard of such
methods while almost half of the people surveyed don’t answer the question (Figure 9).
20,0%
33,5%
46,5%
YesNoDon't Know
Are you aware of ways to settle disputes other than going to court?
Therefore the introduction of ADR methods in the system will not only take care of the mistrust
Bulgarians have in the courts, but will also introduce ways of dispute settlement that are time
saving, cost reducing and result effective. A step forward could be the establishment of an
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre that would act not only as and effective system of
dispute resolution, but also as a teaching institution37. The Centre might offer seminars in
various ADR methods & practice and develop special programmes for judges to oversee and
support the ADR regime in Bulgaria. In addition, the Centre might offer assistance and advice to
lawyers and government officials on drafting of mediation and arbitration law, for instance, and
the implementation of the ADR regime. Funding, of course, will be of crucial importance, and it
might be achieved with the help of the Government, the EU, or International Development
agencies. In consequence of the research conducted, Hypothesis Five is also proven right.
37 An example of such centre is the ADR Center in Washington DC, USA, at the International Law Institute (www.ili.org)
Figure 9
119
The final hypothesis foresees the development of cooperation between the institutions dealing
with consumer protection. As seen from the questionnaire analysis, except for the Commission
for Consumer Protection, most people are unlikely to have heard about the other Institutions
dealing with consumer protection (Figures 10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17). This led me to think that
firstly, consumers are uninformed of which bodies to contact when having certain consumer
problems (e.g. tourism related issues such as timeshares etc. are dealt by the Tourism Agency)
and secondly, because of a lack of cooperation between these institutions, consumers are
unaware how and which body will best protect their rights. Obviously, if sufficient level of
cooperation was existent then consumers having problems would have been directed to the
adequate institution thus increasing the level of consumer information about the institutions
concerned. During my interview with the Regional Consumer Commissioner in Plovdiv, I asked
him if they cooperate as a Commission with the other bodies as defined by the Consumer Law.
The answer was that they were cooperating mostly with the Regional Inspections for
Safeguarding and Control of Public Health Department and the Economic Police and the Tax
Services from time to time. Mr. Minchev also added that the interaction between the Institutions
defined by the Law was not satisfying, the reason being that it's a period of transition – the Law
is new and with the legal framework recently established it would take time till the theoretical
principles start to be actually applied in practice.
In addition, according to a round-table discussion38 carried out last month, it became clear that
there is a great deal of confusion in Bulgaria as to which authority consumers should turn to in
cases of breaches of their consumer rights. It was also stated that control by authorities was
38 The EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Ms. Meglena Kouneva, together with Stefano Soro (Head of the EC unit responsible for product and service safety), Bulgaria’s Consumer Protection Commission, business, media, and NGO representatives, took part in the second “School for Consumers” held at the European Commission representative office in Sofia. The main topic of the discussion was the safety of goods in the EU.
120
sporadic and as a result its effectiveness suffers. Parts of the round table discussion yet again
proved that often what is missing are direct answers to direct questions39. In spite of the round-
table discussion it was not made clear to which body a consumer should turn to if, for instance,
there is a refusal to agree to cash or goods in exchange when attempting to return a faulty
product. Ms. Kouneva underlined that concise, clear and easily accessible information on what
consumer should do in such cases is still insufficient in Bulgaria and this harms the end-users of
course.
Have HeardHaven't Heard
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percent
36,5%
63,5%
Regional Inspections for Safeguarding and Control ofPublic Health
Have HeardHaven't Heard
100
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
12,0%
88,0%
Public Metrology and Technical Control Agency
Have HeardHaven't Heard
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
25,5%
74,5%
National Health-insurance Fund
Have HeardHaven't Heard
100
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
9,5%
90,5%
Tourism Agency
39 As stated on the Sofia Echo – the electronic news – in the article on “Consumer concerns in Bulgarian and the EU”
Figure 10 Figure 11
Figure 12 Figure 13
121
In my opinion, if there is to be a synergy40 attained between the consumer protection institutions
such problems could be easily overcome. If synergy between those institutions is achieved that
will mean that good and effective actions are multiplied, therefore, it becomes crucial to making
real development happen and also crucial to the sustainability of the development. If consumer
protection is to be developed and improved then cooperation and collaboration between the
bodies dealing with consumer protection is vital. There is no use of the Law if it is not applied in
practice. The bodies are specified on the New Law for Consumer Protection as “mediators” to
ensure adequate protection of the rights of consumers in Bulgaria. However, up to this point
these institutions still lack the efficiency and effectiveness which are needed so that consumers
are better protected.
Have HeardHaven't Heard
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
29,5%
70,5%
Regional Municipality Units for Consumer Protection
Have HeardHaven't Heard
100
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
16,0%
84,0%
Commission for Competition Protection
Have HeardHaven't Heard
100
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
6,5%
93,5%
Executive "Automobile Administration" Agency
Have HeardHaven't Heard
80
60
40
20
0
Percent
25,0%
75,0%
National Veterinary and Medical Office
40 A synergy is generally defined as an action taken by two or more to achieve an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual effects. When applied to development, the positive benefits of the synergy cannot be understated – good effects in development can be amplified many times over, and more people can benefit in a variety of ways.
Figure 14 Figure 15
Figure 16 Figure 17
122
I believe that cooperation between these institutions, for instance, reinforcing each other’s work,
sharing of information & work strategies, and establishing intensive networks amongst them, is
not only of importance to the better protection of consumer rights, but is also of importance to
the overall performance of the Bulgarian justice system. In summary, Hypothesis Six is
proven right according to my observations.
2. Conclusion
Consumer Protection is a form of government regulation which protects the interests of
consumers. Consumer protection is linked to the idea of consumer rights and to the formation of
consumer organizations which help consumers make better choices in the market place41.
However, without governmental determination and lack of consumer knowledge of citizens the
system of consumer protection is doomed to failure. No matter how well a country formulates its
laws, if there is no application of the law and keenness of the government to put into motion its
organs for better protection then citizens will continue their mistrust attitude towards the
government.
On the other hand, if consumers are unaware & uninformed about their rights and at the same
time reluctant to pursue these rights then there is no “push”-factor for the government to ensure
that consumers are well protected. It is therefore a mutual process where as much information
consumers have as much protection and assistance are they expected to receive from the
Government. Strong consumer organizations are and will be a vital force in ensuring that the
rights of consumers are taken into account when policies are projected, and in creating a strong
consumer culture in the country. I also believe that strong consumer organizations will be able to
fight better for consumer rights than individual citizens against the state monopolies dealing
41 Abstract taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia and online dictionary
123
with, for instance, electricity and heating installations, and which are not covered by the Law for
Consumer Protection regrettably.
During my research and upon the analysis of the questionnaire, I have seen that education, age,
size of the populated area, occupational positions hold, and sometimes gender play big roles in
the attitude of citizens towards certain consumer issues. The education level is one of the biggest
factors in determining the level of consumer knowledge and that is why I have given primary
importance to the introduction of consumer related courses in the National Education System.
Creating awareness of the citizens of Bulgaria in regards to their consumer rights is a leap ahead
in not only creating a consumer culture, but also in improving the mechanism of the Single EU
Market of which Bulgaria is now a part. In spite of the fact that I had my survey carried out in
August 2006, yet the situation of the Bulgarian consumer protection system and the recent
surveys show that there has been no change since then in the attitudes of Bulgarian citizens
regarding consumer rights and protection. In addition to this, I have observed that Bulgarian
consumers lack confidence in their own country whereas most Bulgarians believe they are better
protected in the European Union when it comes to consumer rights. Bulgarians are also not
happy with the level of safety of products offered on the Bulgarian market and with the level of
supervision and control on this market for safer products and services. Most Bulgarians are also
not content with the enforcement of legislation on consumer protection and the governmental
efforts in creating better mechanism for protection of consumers including the one for efficient
market surveillance. Therefore, when consumers are having problems with
products/services/traders that they cannot settle amicably, majority of the consumers do not take
any further action for a solution to be found. And this is partly caused by the citizens’ mistrust in
the justice system and the government. Positive attitude of Bulgarians is observed in the
willingness to join with other consumers having the same complaints before a court and, on the
124
other hand, consumers are willing to place their trust in solicitors and themselves the most when
it comes to protecting consumer rights.
Although the attitude of Bulgarian citizens is negative to their government, most Bulgarians
have shown a positive outlook to the state of consumer protection and market surveillance once
Bulgaria is a part of the EU (see Figures 18 & 19 below). Besides, most Bulgarians believe that
they will have better quality and choice of products and services upon Bulgaria’s EU accession,
but the same thing cannot be said in regards to the price of products and services which citizens
think will be affected negatively.
23,0%
11,5%65,5%
Don'tKnow
NoYes
Bulgaria's EU accession and consumer rights
8,5%
20,0%
71,5%
No
Don'tKnow
Yes
Bulgaria's EU accession and market supervisionand control
A positive step in consumer protection, and which is a result from the accession, will be the
establishment of the European Network for consumers’ rights protection (ECC) in Bulgaria
within half a year from now42 where Bulgarians and other EU citizens will be able to lodge their
complaints. As I mentioned in the first part of the dissertation, the service that will be set up in
Bulgaria will be a part of the network of such centres, established by all the countries in the
European Union and is mostly funded by the EU itself.
42 As announced by Ms. Meglena Couneva, the EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection
Figure 18 Figure 19
125
During the dissertation discourse, I have compared the Old Law for Consumer Protection and
Trade Rules to the New Law for Consumer Protection that is in force in Bulgaria as of 10th June
2006. I have observed that although the New Law integrates and introduce most of the European
Directives and regulations on Consumer Protection, the Law alone is not sufficient for the
protection of the customers’ rights. Still there is lack of information of Bulgarian customers,
lack of determination on behalf of the government, lack of communication between the
governmental institutions dealing with consumer protection, lack of strong consumer
organization force in the country, lack of citizens’ trust in their own government and its justice
system and lack of alternative dispute resolution methods offered to Bulgarian consumers. I
believe that all these factors negatively influence the state of consumer protection in Bulgaria
and are expected to continue having a negative impact unless “counter” or preventive measures
are taken. In my opinion, the EU membership of Bulgaria has started to have and will continue
having a positive impact on the attitude of consumers and the status of consumer protection in
the country. Another positive issue is that the current EU Commissioner for Consumer
Protection, Ms. Meglena Kouneva, is a Bulgarian citizen who, in my view, has the sufficient
determination and energy to put right the system of Bulgarian consumer protection. A major
point here is that it needs time. Consumer Protection improvement needs time. It has to begin
with the consumers – educating them, furnishing them with sufficient information – continue
with consumer organizations – which, I think, are one of the strongest forces in forming
consumer culture – that in return will put into motion the governmental and legal mechanism for
securing the privileges of Bulgarian consumers and thus create more favourable future for
consumers embraced with confidence and trust in their government.
126
Annex
QUESTIONNAIRE Тази анкета е анонимна и е предназначена за измерване степента на информираност на българските потребители за техните права. Анкетата е част от дипломната ми работа за завършване на Магистърска степен, специалност Европейски Мениджмънт и резултатите от нея ще бъдат включени в анализите за защита на правата на българските потребители. Попълването на анкетата ще ви отнеме не повече от 5-6 минути. Бих искала да благодаря предварително за Вашето внимание и отделеното време. Q1. Please indicate your gender? а) Male b) Female Q2. Please, show which age group you are in? а) 15 – 24 г. b) 25 – 39 г. c) 40 – 54 г. d) 55 + г. Q3. Please, indicate the age you left the educational system? а) до 15 г. b) 16 – 19 г. c) 20 + г. d) still studying Q4. Please, indicate your occupation? а) self-employed b) manager c) other white collar worker / clerk d) manual worker e) unemployed f) retired g) student h) worker Q5. Please, indicate how populated is the city you live in? а) big city b) average / small city c) village Q6. а) Do you think that , as a consumer, you have a high level of protection in Bulgaria ? а In Bulgaria Yes No Depends Don’t Know
b) Do you think that, as a consumer, you have a high level of protection in the EU?
b In the EU Yes No Depends Don’t Know Q7. Do you think you know enough about your rights, as a consumer, under Bulgarian laws? а) Yes а) No c) DK Q8. Would you like to know more about your rights as consumer? а) Yes b) No c) DK Q9. Through which information medium would you prefer to be informed? а) TV b) Radio c) Newspapers / magazines d) Seminars e) Consumer consultation desks f) other .......................................(please write)
127
Q10. а) when you purchase goods or services do the trader / seller give you a sale’s slip? а Sale’s slip Yes,
always Yes, most of the times Not always In rare occasions No
b) when you purchase non-food products do the trader / seller give you a warranty? b Warranty Yes,
always Yes, most of the times Not always In rare occasions No
Q11. а) do you require a sale’s slip in case the trader / seller do not give you one? а Sale’s slip Yes,
always Yes, most of the
times Not always,
depends In rare occasions No, I don’t
think I need it
b) do you require a warranty in case the trader / seller do not give you one? b Warranty Yes,
always Yes, most of the
times Not always,
depends In rare occasions No, I don’t
think I need it
Q12. Do you think that traders / sellers give sufficient information regarding products you are to buy or buying? а) Yes b) Do not have time for it c) No d) DK Q13. Do you read products’ or services’ labels / contents carefully before and after you purchase them? а Before purchase Yes,
always Yes, most of the
times Not always,
depends In rare occasions No
b After purchase Yes, always
Yes, most of the times
Not always, depends
In rare occasions No
Q14. Do you read the clauses in the warranties carefully before and after you purchase the products? а Before purchase Yes,
always Yes, most of the
times Not always,
depends In rare occasions No
b After purchase Yes, always
Yes, most of the times
Not always, depends
In rare occasions No
Q15. Do you think warranties contain enough clauses for compensation in case of flaw or defect of the goods? а) Yes b) Not always c) No d) DK Q16. Do you know that, as a consumer, you can complain and put a claim about a product no matter whether the trader or seller gave you a warranty for that product or not? а) Yes b) No c) I don’t think it is possible d) DK Q17. Would you buy goods from a street vendor? а) Yes b) Depends on the product or the price c) No
128
Q18. Do you think the goods that street vendors offer are reliable and of quality? а) Yes b) Not always c) No d) DK Q19. Do you think that goods offered on the market are safe enough? а) Yes b) Not always c) No d) DK Q20. Do you think that surveillance on the market for safety of goods and services is effective and sufficient? а) Yes b) Not always c) No d) DK Q21. Do you think the government exerts enough efforts for the protection of the consumer rights? а) Yes b) Not enough c) No d) DK Q22. Do you think the government should improve and strengthen the surveillance on the market regarding safety of goods, the goods of poor quality, and the unfair trade practices? а) Yes b) No c) DK Q23. Other than in consumer policy, do you think that your rights, as a consumer, are sufficiently taken into account in Bulgarian policies such as agricultural policy, transport policy, energy policy, telecommunication policy or competition policy? а) Yes b) Not enough c) No d) DK Q24. Do you know that as of 10th June 2006, the parliament passed a new law that contains most of the European Directives on Consumer Protection? а) Yes, I know b) No, I don’t know c) I wasn’t informed Q25. Do you think that the legislation on consumer protection is applied in practice or not? а) Yes b) Not enough c) No d) DK Q26. Would you complain about a product, if you found that there is defect or flaw in the product with the aim of having it repaired, changed with new one, or having the product price reimbursed partially or completely? а) Yes b) Depends on the product c) Depends on the price d) Depends on whether I know the trader / seller e) No f) DK Q27. Did you ever have to complain to a salesman, retailer or service provider? а) Yes, often b) Yes, sometimes c) Yes, rarely d) No, never e) DK Q28. Did you know that, according to the New Law, all traders / seller are required to keep claim registers and enter all consumer claims in those registers? а) Yes, I know b) I have heard, but I do not think traders abide by this rule
129
c) No, I don’t know Q29. Please, indicate which public institutions dealing with market control and surveillance and which, you could turn to in case of irregularities, have you heard or you know about? а) Commission for Consumer Protection - CCP b) Regional Inspections for Safeguarding and Control of Public Health - RISCPH c) Public Metrology and Technical Control Agency - PMTCA d) National Health-insurance Fund - NHIF e) Tourism Agency - TA f) National Veterinary and Medical Office - NVMO g) Regional Municipality Units for Consumer Protection - RMUCP h) Executive “Automobile Administration” Agency - EAAA i) Commission for Competition Protection - CCMP j) I have heard about all institutions written above k) I haven’t heard about any of the institutions written above Q30. Have you heard about the Consumer Hot Line at “0700 111 22”, dealt by the Commission for Consumer Protection, that you can call to inform of violation of your rights as a consumer? а) Yes b) Yes, but I would not call there b) No c) DK Q31. Do you think that consumer associations have enough involvement in or should be more involved in formulating consumer protection policy? а) enough involvement b) more involved c) DK Q32. а) Do you think you can have access to ways to settle disputes or not when you buy products or services in Bulgaria? а In Bulgaria Yes No Depends DK b) And in the EU b In the EU Yes No Depends DK Q33. Are you aware of ways to settle disputes between consumers and suppliers of products or services other than going to court? By this, I mean mediation, arbitration and conciliation. а) Yes b) No c) DK Q34. In the last 5 years, after buying a product or service, have you ever had problems that you could not settle amicably with the salesman, retailer or service provider? а) Yes, could not settle amicably b) No, could settle amicably c) No, never had any problems e) DK Q35. If No go to next question, if Yes code here. What did you do when u did not find an amicable solution with the salesman, retailer or service provider? а) I did not do anything b) I went to see a solicitor who brought the matter to court c) I brought the matter to court myself
130
d) I brought the matter to an arbitration / mediation / conciliation body e) I asked for the advice of a consumer association/a consumer help desk, and I brought the matter to court f) I asked for the advice of a consumer association/a consumer help desk, and I brought the matter to an arbitration / mediation / conciliation body g) I asked for the advice of a solicitor / consumer association but did not pursue the matter h) Other ............................................................................................................(please write) В36. If you have a problem with a product or service purchased in Bulgaria would you take the matter to court? а) Yes, I would b) Depends on the product / service c) Depends on the expenses related to the legal procedure c) No, the legal procedure would be too long d) No, the legal procedure would be too complicated e) It would be useless / I would not win f) DK g) Other ................................................................................................................(please write) В37. Would you be more willing to defend your rights in court if you could join with other consumers who were complaining about the same thing? Certainly or Probably? а) Yes, certainly b) Yes, probably c) No, certainly d) No, probably e) DK В38. In whom would you have the most confidence to defend your rights in court? а) Yourself b) Another consumer having the same complaint c) Consumer Association d) Solicitor e) A public service f) Other ...............................................(please write) g) Nobody h) DK Q39. To what extent do you have confidence in the courts to settle consumer disputes efficiently? Would you say you have …..? а) a great deal of confidence b) a fair amount of confidence c) not very much confidence d) no confidence at all f) DK Q40. Who do you think can best protect your interests as a consumer? а) A court / the justice system b) An arbitration / mediation / conciliation body c) A body equally made of consumers and salesman / retailers / traders d) A body set up by association of salesman / retailers / traders e) A body set up by consumer associations f) A public organization in charge of consumer protection g) A European public organization in charge of consumer protections h) Other........................................................................................................................(please write) i) DK
131
Q41. As a consumer, do you think the Single European Market has a very positive, fairly positive, fairly negative, very negative or no effect on……? A The price of non-
food products Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
B The price of food products
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
C The price of services
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
D The quality of non-food products
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
E The quality of services
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
F The choice of non-food products
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
G The choice of food products
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
H The choice of services
Very Positive
Fairly Positive
Fairly Negative
Very Negative
No effect DK
Q42. Do you think that, as a consumer, you would have better protection of your consumer rights and better market surveillance after Bulgaria’s accession in the EU? а Protection of Consumer Rights
YES NO DK
b Market Surveillance
YES NO DK
БЛАГОДАРЯ ЗА СЪДЕЙСТВИЕТО ВИ И ОТДЕЛЕНОТО ВРЕМЕ!!!
132
References
Law: Bulgaria, Law on Consumer Protection and Trade Rules, 02/04/1999 Bulgaria, Law on Consumer Protection, 10/06/2006 The Treaty of Amsterdam – “Amending the Treaty on European Union, The Treaties Establishing the European Communities and Certain Related Acts” & Tables of Equivalences, Amsterdam 2 October 1997 Papers: Official Journal of the European Union, Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 October 2004 on Cooperation between National Authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws (the Regulation on Consumer Protection Cooperation) European Commission - Bulgaria 2005 Comprehensive Monitoring Report - Brussels, 25 October 2005/SEC (2005) 1352 European Commission - 2004 Regular Report on Bulgaria's progress towards accession [COM(2004) 657 final - SEC(2004) 1199 - Not published in the Official Journal] United Nations Resolution – A/RES/39/248 – 16 April 1985 European Commission – Special Euro-barometer / Wave 59.2 – 193 – European Opinion Research Group EEIG – “Consumer Protection in the EU” Publication: November 2003 European Commission – Special Euro-barometer 195 / Wave 60.0 – 193 – European Opinion Research Group EEIG – “European Union Citizens and Access to Justice” Publication: October 2004 European Commission – Special Euro-barometer 252 / Wave 65.1 – TNS Opinion and Social, "Consumer Protection in the Internal Marker" Publication: September 2006 European Commission – Flash Euro-barometer 186 – The Gallup Organization, "Business Attitudes towards cross-border sales and consumer protection" Analytical Report: December 2006 European Commission – Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament – on the Implementation of Directive 1998/6/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 February 1998 on consumer protection in the indication of prices of products offered to consumers; Brussels, 21.6.2006 COM(2006) 325 final
133
British Institute of International and Comparative Law – “Unfair Commercial Practices”, Coordinated by Prof. Dr. Cees van Dam, Erika Budaite BA in Law (Estonia), London European Commission – Green Paper on European Union Consumer Protection, Brussels 2.10.2001 COM(2001) 531 final European Commission – Green Paper on the review of the Consumer Acquis (presented by the European Commission), Brussels 08.02.2007 COM(2006) 744 final European Commission – Modified Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on credit agreements for consumers amending Council Directive 93/13/EC, Brussels, 7.10.2005 COM(2005) 483 final European Commission – Review of Directive 2002/65 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services and Amending Council Directive 90/619/ECC and Directive 97/7/EC and 98/27/EC, Brussels, 6.4.2006, COM(2006) 161 final European Commission - Council Directive 87/102/EEC of 22 December 1986 for the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning consumer credit European Commission – Amended Proposal for A directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonization of the laws, regulations, and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning credit for consumers repealing Directive 87/102/EC and modifying Directive 93/13/EC, Brussels, 28.10.2004 COM(2004) 747 final European Commission - Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (Text with EEA relevance) European Commission - CONVENTION ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS opened for signature in Rome on 19 June 1980 (80/934/EEC)Official Journal L 266 , 09/10/1980 p. 0001 – 0019 Project for the European Commission Directorate General on Health and Consumer Protection – "Development of indicators on consumer satisfaction and Pilot Survey", Contract No: B5-1000/03/000382, Final Report, 01 February 2005 Opinion of the European Consumer Consultative Group, "Made in the EU Origin Marking", ECCG2004 047 Bulgarian National Consumers Association, "Annual Report on the activity of Bulgarian National Consumers Association for Year 2005", 2005
134
Newspapers: Newspaper Standard, Pavel Karlev, page 11, 22/01/2005 Markets and Law magazine, Emil Alexiev, Chief of the Department for Consumer Protection in the Ministry of Economy, Article on Consumer Protection, No: 01/2005 EC Newsletter, Fact sheet, "Consumer Education" 2006, Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General, ND-X1-06-116-EN-C, December 2006 EC Newsletter, "Health & Consumer Voice", Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General, ISSN 1725-549X, February 2007 EC Newsletter, Fact sheet, "The European Consumer Centres Network – ECC-Net", Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General, ND-X1-06-118-EN-C, September 2006 EC Newsletter, Fact sheet, "Product Safety", Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General, ND-X1-06-117-EN-C December 2006 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 1 (8), March 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 2 (9), April 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 3 (10), May 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 4 (11), June 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 5 (12), July 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 6 (13), 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 7 (14), 2005 Bulletin "Consumer" (Potrebitel), Bulgarian National Consumers Association, Year III, Issue 8 (15), 2005 Websites: EU Consumer Regulation – Paper Source http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/pdf1/bencheu.pdf
135
European Commission - DG Health and Consumer Protection-Consumer Affairs http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm Malta C.P - http://www.mcmp.gov.mt/consumer.asp Slovakia C.P. - http://www.fifoost.org/slowakei/EU_SLovakia_2002/node58.php ANEC The EU Consumer Voice - http://www.anec.org/anec.asp?rd=28956&ref=03-01.01-01&lang=en Applied Research and Communication Fund C.P. Bulgaria - http://www.arc.online.bg/artShow.php?id=4722&bc=5 Consumer International “The global voice of consumers” - http://www.consumersinternational.org/ EU Commission, Documentation Centers - http://europa.eu.int/comm/relays/edc_en.htm EU Information Sources - http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/info/guide/index_en.htm#biblio EU Consumer Affairs - http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/FoodSafetyHealth&ConsumAff/ConsumProt.htm Ministry of Industry and Trade Czech Republic - http://www.mpo.cz./eng/ The European Consumers’ Organizations BEUC - http://www.mpo.cz./eng/ Slovenia Consumer Organization - http://www.zps-zveza.si/ZPSstrani/zpsang.nsf/Glavniframe?OpenFrameSet&Frame=bottom&src=http://www.zps-zveza.si/ZPSstrani/zpsang.nsf/ZPSFrameset?openframeset Consumer Consultation Czech Republic - http://www.spotrebitel.cz/english/ Internet Usage Rate in Bulgaria - http://blog.veni.com/?p=61 Marketing Research Agency - http://www.mtest.bol.bg/ Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry -http://www.bcci.bg/arbitration/index.html Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre - http://www.ili.org/adrc.htm American Bar Association - http://www.abanet.org/ceeli/countries/bulgaria/program.html Regional Cooperation - http://www.fs.fed.us/eco/s4pre.htm “Bulgaria and EU consumer-protection standards” - Written by K. Martinov Translated by M. Dikanarova – Source: http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/Theme_BulgariaES/Material/consumer.htm
136
Consumer education in several Central and Eastern European countries - http://www.norden.org/nicemail/issues/thirteen/several.htm Consumer Policy / Consumer Affairs / EUSource: http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/overview/cons_policy/index_en.htm The ECC-Net: http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/redress/ecc_network/index_en.htm The Federation of Bulgarian Consumers (FBC) - www.potrebiteli-bg.com Trade and Consumer Protection Commission - http://www.ktzp.bg Press Office, Ministry of Economy - http://www.mi.government.bg/eng/ Commercial Arbitration and Mediation Center for the Americas: www.adr.org/rules/camca_rules.html CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution: www.cpradr.org American Arbitration Association: www.adr.org Mr. David BYRNE Speech, Reference: SPEECH/01/434, Date: 04/10/2001, Source: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/01/434&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr Section of Dispute Resolution/American Bar Association: www.abanet.org Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Bulgaria, CONFERENCE ON ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION - BULGARIA Brussels, 11 September 2002 CONF-BG 46/02 - www.mrrb.government.bg/pdocs/doc_1297.doc http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/e16101.htm http://www.nsi.bg/AboutNSI_e/mtp-315.htm http://www.waleseic.org.uk/euronews/april2004/article4.htm http://www.minelres.lv/NationalLegislation/Bulgaria/Bulgaria_Consum_excerpts_English.htm http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/consumers-union-aims-to-challenge-top-monopolists/id_47/catid_5 http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0138&n=000103&g http://www.minedu.government.bg/opencms/opencms/ http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cbj2002/ee/bg/183-021.html http://www.pressreference.com/Be-Co/Bulgaria.html http://www.usaid.gov/sl/crosssectoral/why/whysynergy.htm
137
http://www.news.bg/article.php?cid=20&pid=0&aid=170334 http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0138&n=000103&g= http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/711&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/consumer-protection-bill-passed/id_10887/catid_23 http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/e16101.htm http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=52623 http://www.arc.online.bg/artShow.php?id=4722&bc=5 http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=53532 http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/topics/policy_programme_en.htm http://www.fifoost.org/slowakei/EU_SLovakia_2002/node58.php http://www.lectlaw.com/files/adr11.htm http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/topics/facts_en.htm http://news.netinfo.bg/index.phtml?tid=40&oid=848741 http://www.dnesplus.bg/Business.aspx?f=102&d=134214 http://www.mpo.cz/dokument14336.html http://www.bnap.org/en/?p=15 http://www.mpo.cz/dokument13715.html http://news.netinfo.bg/index.phtml?tid=40&oid=768248 www.potrebitel.bg http://evroportal.bg/article_view.php?id=689644 http://www.actualno.com/news_71045.html http://www.trudipravo.bg/scripts/show.php?abbr=pip&y=2005&m=01&t=m http://www.paragraf22.com/pravo/zakoni/otm/23908.html