1. M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Working Group for Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection Bilateral screening: Chapter 28 PRESENTATION OF MONTENEGRO Brussels, 15-16 April 2013

2. Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 2009 on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts (2008/122/EC) Božo Vučeković The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, bozo.vucekovic@mrt.gov.me

3. Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Contents  Relevant Acquis  National legislation  Institutional Framework  Level of transposition  Plans Chapter 28 - Consumer and Health Protection

4. Chapter 28: Consumer Protection and Public Health M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Relevant Acquis  Directive 2008/122/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 January 2009 on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection

5. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Chapter 28 – Consumer and Health Protection Chapter 27 – Environment and climate change National Legislation  Law on Consumer Protection (“Official Gazette of MNE”, no. 26/07)

6. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Chapter 27 – Environment and climate change Law on Consumer Protection (“Official Gazette of MNE”, no. 26/07): In the chapter „economic interests of consumers“ of this Law provisions relating to timeshare contract are provided:  Determine the basic consumer rights when buying goods and services, and ways of exercising consumer protection procedures,  definition of contract,  form of contract,  prior notice  content of the contract  the right of consumers to unilaterally terminate the contract,  consequences of unilateral termination,  influence of unilateral termination of the loan agreement. Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

7. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Chapter 27 – Environment and climate change The Law also provides:  Inspection supervision – surveillance over implementation of this Law provides Authority for Inspection supervision through Tourism inspection  Administrative measures – tourist inspector is authorized to take administrative measures in accordance with the provisions of the Law regulating the inspection, in the part where the merchant does not submit the required information (offer) on the conditions of time-limited use of immovable property (Art. 57, paragraphs: 3,1,4,5) and in the case of improperly advertising right of time – limited use of immovable property (Article 57, paragraph 6)  Sanctions – it is prescribed infrigement for a trader, responsible person, legal entity or physical entity, if: - does not submit the required information (offer) on the conditions of time- limited use of immovable property (Art. 57. 1,2,4,5) to a consumer - improperly advertise right to the time - limited use of the immovable property (Art. 57. 6). Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

8. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Institutional Framework  Main institutions and stakeholders: Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism Ministry of Economy Courts Authority for Inspection and Supervision in Tourism 20 tourist inspectors supervise implementation of the Law on Tourism

9. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Level of Transposition/1  Inconsistencies between our legislation (Law on Consumer Protection) and the Directive:  Definition of the contract, the seller, the consumer is not complete  It is not prescribed that rules of time - share contract shall not affect the application of general rules of civil law liability (definition of timeshare does not comply – there is missing movable thing, not just immovable property, contracts that have been concluded for a period longer than a year are not included)  new holiday products, such as: long-term holiday product, resale contract and exchange contract are not defined  terms "ancillary contract", "durable medium", "code of conduct" and "code owner“ are not defined  It is not provided that any provision in the contract allowing for tacit renewal or prolongation shall be taken into account in calculating the duration of a contract  content of consumer information where he can obtain more detailed pre-contractual information on the holiday product which is the subject of the contract is not defined Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

10. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Level of Transposition/2  Content of rule defining that where a holiday product is to be offered or sold at a promotion or sales event, the commercial purpose of the event must be clearly indicated, and that the information on holiday product must be available to the consumer during the event, is not defined  It contains no prohibition of advertising or selling tourist products as investments  The content of prior information (that requirement for such information can be provided in a clear and comprehensible manner, provided by means of the standard information form, free of charge, in writing or on another durable medium which is easily accessible to the consumer) is not harmonized with the same content in Directive  It is not transposed the rule regarding the language in which the prior information must be drawn up  It is not provided that a contract on tourism product can be made in writing or on another durable medium which is easily accessible to the consumer  Inconsistency regarding the language in which the holiday product contract is to be drawn up Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

11. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Level of Transposition/3  T he meaning of the phrase “circumstances beyond the trader’s control” is not specified, and it is not specified in which form those changes shall be communicated to the consumer  It does not contain special rules on the manner of informing the consumer of his right of withdrawal  The rules concerning the right of withdrawal are less favorable  Withdrawal periods or unilateral termination are not consistent  It does not provide the start of the withdrawal period, nor a special rule on the impact of the withdrawal period for timeshare contract  It does not specify in which form the decision to withdraw from the contract must be notified  It is not provided the rule that the consumer will not be obligated to bear the costs in the event of termination of contract  It does not provide the rule on the prohibition of payment of any compensation to any other tourism product, as well as prohibition of all other financial transactions  It does not provide rule on prohibition of advance payment, or prohibition of any similar financial transaction relating to resale contracts Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

12. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Level of Transposition/4  The rule regarding the language in which the prior information must be drawn up  It does not provide for misdemeanor liability of a trader  It does not contain any specific rules relating to long-term holiday product contracts (the impact of choice of applicable law)  The contents of the rules on termination of ancillary contracts do not correspond to the rules in the Directive  It does not provide for and it does not elaborate the system of collective protection of the consumers  It does not provide for a system of informing the consumers on the rules of that Law concerning long-term holiday product contracts  It does not provide the effective penalties in the event of a trader’s failure to comply with the rules concerning long-term holiday product contracts  It does not contain the rules regulating the content of information about long-term holiday product contracts that must be communicated to the consumer Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

13. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection M O N T E N E G R O Negotiating Team for the Accession of Montenegro to the European Union Plans  Harmonization of national legislation with the European regulations  Draft of the new Law on Protection of consumers  Draft Regulation on standard forms of contract information on the use of time- divided, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange, and the standard form for unilateral termination of the contract  Authority for Inspection supervision shell continue to perform continuous monitoring in this area within existing legislation and EU good practice  NTO - Call Center, Local Tourism Organisations – will work intensify and increase the level of quality of service (collecting and providing information in multiple languages) Chapter 28: CONSUMER AND HEALTH PROTECTION

14. Thank you for your attention!