New higher protection of the consumer’s rights and interests

In January 2017 amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, the Consumer Protection Act and the International Commercial Arbitration Act came into force. They provide for higher protection of the consumer’s rights and interests. The main changes concern the following:

• According to the amendments the award of a lawyer’s fee in favor of the legal entities and sole traders that have been defended by a legal adviser (in-house counsel) will no longer be possible. The amount of remuneration (fee) in favour of legal entities and sole traders, if they have been defended by a legal adviser, may not exceed the maximum amount envisaged for the respective case pursuant to the Legal Aid Act;
• The parties to a property dispute may agree that the said dispute be settled by an arbitration court if the subject matter of it are not rights in rem or possession of a real property, maintenance or rights under an employment relationship or a dispute to which one of the parties is a consumer;
• Every clause of a contract, signed between a merchant and a consumer, whereby the settlement of a dispute between is referred to an arbitration court outside the procedure for alternative settlement of consumer disputes according to the meaning of this law, will be void;

An arbitrator may be a citizen being of full legal age, has legal capacity, was not convicted of indictable offense, has higher education, at least 8 years of professional experience, with high moral standing.