Minister of Trade and Services Slobodan Milosavljevic stated today that the implementation of the Law on commerce and the Law on consumer protection will begin on 1 January 2011, adding that, among other things, it will help to increase Serbia’s appeal as an investment target.

Milosavljevic told the Beta agency that starting from 1 January, consumers in Serbia will be protected the same as those in the EU, and in some sectors even better than them.

He underlined that these laws were very highly assessed in Serbia’s EU integration report for 2010, and their implementation will be a step towards European values and standards in consumer rights.

The Minister explained that the Law on consumer protection will introduce a number of new features, and that its goal is to enable every consumer to protect their rights in cooperation with relevant institutions and correct an injustice that may have occurred during the purchase of a certain product or service.

Under the new law, the warranty period for each product is two years, while the product can be replaced within six months.

An action to inform consumers about the new provisions of the law will start in January, said Milosavljevic, noting that this will also be done through counseling centres for the protection of consumer rights.

He recalled that there is a phone number 0800-103-104 for consumers to report the violation of consumer rights and where they can obtain accurate, clear and good advice on how to exercise their consumer rights.