Oaie Cornel-Sebastian

Grupa 442G

Consumer protection
In a society the consumer represent a pillar in the economic structure
and the market tries to meet all the needs of the consumer, giving him
multiple options of choice for each need it has although those needs change
constantly as humanity evolves and new needs appear and some disappear,
because of the risk the consumer is exposing by making acquisitions the
consumer protection comes in and tries to protect him with various
regulations imposed to the trader, without which there would be no
economic market.
Firstly, lets start defining the Consumer protection and talk some
history about it, presenting it as one of the main principles of social policies
promoted by the government of any state. Also, it should, because of the
importance it represent, to constitute a self-contained policy with own
objectives, priorities and tools. The first steps taken in Europe towards
forming a consumer protection were in The 1970s and 1980s when the
political atmosphere slowly became conducive to consumer-related
measures, starting with the Council Resolution of 14 April of 1975 on a
preliminary programme of the European Economic Community for a
consumer protection and information policy, which provided for five basic
rights:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The
The
The
The
The

right
right
right
right
right

to protection of heath and safety

to protection of economic interest
to redress
to information
of representation (right to be heard)

In 1985, the first consumer protection directives, the Directives on Product

Liability and Doorstep Selling were enacted. Finally, a specific competence
for consumer protection was introduced in the Maastricht Treaty. In 1995, a
Consumer Policy Directorate was established within the European
Commission. In Romania 1992 represents the year of birth of the institute
which acts in realizing the politics strategy and the governmental objectives
in the field of life, health and security protection of the consumer and his
legitimate interests.
Secondly, lets see what exactly those rights mean so we can make an
idea of what Consumer Protection represented by ANPC in Romania tries to
do:
1. The right to protection of health and safety means to be protected
against the risk of purchasing a product or service that could
jeopardize life, health or safety or affect the consumer legitimate right
and interest.
2. The right to information means to be informed fully and precisely the
essential characteristics of products and services so that the decision,
which was adopted to correspond accordingly with their needs.
3. The right to redress means to be compensated for damage caused by
inadequate quality of products and services
4. The right of representation means to organize themselves in
associations for consumer protections in order to safeguard their
interests.
5. The right to protection of economic interest means be provided the
access to markets that provide a wide range of quality products and
services
Thirdly, to do all those things you need a unique organization in which
both public power and the consumer participate in. Public intervention is
focused on ensuring legislation I taking into account the realities of each
country, the principles of their law and legal practice by providing: the
availability of judicial actions, control over the redress legal procedures and

verdicts in favor of the consumer, opportunities for every consumer to have

access to justice, to defend their rights through simplified procedures and
minimum costs, consumer protection bodies that will exert pressure on
bidders, manufacturers or consumers. The affected consumer may apply to
such bodies which in most cases have means for solving sufficiently
effective, departments or offices of consumer protection which should
monitor the correctness of traders. The consumer intervention takes the
following form: establishment of organizations or associations on general
consumer protection which will take direct action according to the law when
a producer or distributor violate the legislation, expose illegal commercial
practices, detection of harmful or inappropriate products and increase the
awareness to everyone that every consumer is entitled to a fair
compensation for various damages arising from the purchase or consumption
of certain products.
In conclusion, the society tries to protect consumer in the form of state
organization and peoples organizations to see that everyone respects the
laws, for a fluid and happy economy, as it is the economic generator
because it is consumer based, as our country, Romania, and will adapt as we
develop new technologies thus new products to be sold and respectively
bought with new or updated set of regulations to keep improving the
protection of the consumer, his money and most important his safety and
well-being. My opinion is that Consumer protection must represent the
cooperation of all parties, the state which give us the laws and supervise us
that we respect them, the seller which must provide a wide range of products
at a competitive price, and enable others to join the market as well, and
finally the consumer which has the obligation to maintain himself informed
because information exists, they just have to use it, to not hesitate in
expressing his opinion if either the government or the trader abuse of their
power in some way, the perfect unity of those three represent the best
Consumer protection in the world.