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POSITION PAPER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
Chapter 23: "CONSUMERS AND HEALTH PROTECTION"
Setting the time frame for the process of adoption and implementation of acquis communautaire, the Latvian Government adopted 1 January 2003 as the date on which Latvia will be prepared for accession to the European Union. Latvia accepts and will implement in full the acquis communautaire in the area of "consumer and health protection" before 1 January 2003. Where it is possible, Latvia is ready to adopt and fully implement Community Law even sooner. Certain provisions of acquis communautaire applicable exclusively to the Member states will be fully implemented as from the date of accession. 1. The Principles Of Consumer Protection Legislation In Latvia Consumer policy was established in the Republic of Latvia by the law "On the Protection of Consumer Rights" adopted in October 1992. In May 1995 the Latvian Government adopted the Concept of the Consumer Rights Protection Program. Since that the most of the activities in the area of consumer rights protection have been carried out as [either: a subprogram; or: subprograms] of the Quality Assurance National Program. The Concept of the Consumer Rights Protection Program sets out the main objectives of consumer rights protection in Latvia. The principal aim is to improve the quality and safety of products and services, and to develop and to carry out the protection of consumer rights as an integral and essential part of the state's policy. The basic principle of consumer rights protection is the protection of consumers' health, safety and economic interests. One of the main areas of activities in the framework of the Consumer Rights Protection Program has been implementation of the EU legislation in consumers and health protection. 2. The Latvian Legislation The new Consumer Rights protection Law was adopted on 18 March 1999. Under, or pursuant to it most of the EU directives in area of consumers and health protection are being implemented. This law is supplemented by the general rules of the Civil Code 1937. The Republic of Latvia has already adopted the following normative acts in order to implement most of the acquis communautaire: The Consumer Rights Protection law was adopted on 18 march 1999, implementing the main principles of EU consumer policy, including directive 93/13/EEC on unfair contract terms in consumer contracts, and partially implementing EU directive 1999/44/EC on consumer sales and related guarantees and directive 98/27/EC on injunctions The Advertising law was adopted on 20 December 1999 (in force since 24 January 2000), implementing directives 84/450/EEC and 97/55/EC on misleading and comparative advertising Regulations on the order of price indications for goods and services were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 18 May 1999, implementing directive 98/6/EC Regulations on the consumer credit contract were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 13 July 1999, implementing directive 87/102/EEC (as amended by 90/88/EEC and 98/7/EC) Regulations on the distance contracts were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 7 September 1999 implementing directive 97/7/EC Regulations on the contract concluded away from permanent trade or service supply premises of the enterprise were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 21 September 1999, implementing directive 85/577/EEC Regulations on the contract concerning the use on a timeshare basis of the immovable property or its part have been adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 21 September 1999 implementing directive 94/47/EC The law of 8 October 1996 on safety of products, services, and liability of producer, service suppliers implements the directives 85/374/EEC and 92/59/EEC. The implementation under this law will be improved by the new draft laws mentioned below.
Further initiatives are presently being undertaken: A draft Product and Services Safety law has been elaborated and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. The draft law could be finally adopted by the Parliament in September âÀ“ November 2000. The draft law improves the implementation of directives 92/59/EEC and 87/357/EEC and shall replace the law of 8 October 1996 A draft Law on the Liability for Deficiencies of Goods and Services has been elaborated and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. The draft law could be finally adopted by the Parliament in September âÀ“ November 2000. The draft law improves the implementation of directive 85/374/EEC and shall replaces the law of 8 October 1996 Draft regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers on package travel (directive 90/314/EEC) have been elaborated and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for adoption Draft regulations to implement the Toys Directive (directive 88/378) will soon be issued by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Full harmonisation of the Latvian legal acts with the legal acts of the European Union will thus be ensured during 2000 âÀ“ 2002. Certain provisions of acquis communautaire applicable exclusively to the Member states will be fully implemented as from the date of accession (Decisions 3092/94/EC, 95/260/EC, 97/404/EC, 97/579/EC, 98/139/EC and 98/140/EC). The full implementation if the EU legislation will therefore be completed by accession. 3. The Institution Building The main authority co-ordinating the activities in area of consumer protection is the Ministry of Economy, where a Consumer Rights Protection Division exists since 1994. Other ministries involved in consumer rights protection are the Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development (consumer protection in tourism), the Ministry of Welfare (in areas of food safety and pharmaceuticals), the Ministry of Agriculture (in area of food safety), and the Ministry of Transport (in areas of transport and telecommunications). One of the aims of Consumer Rights Protection Program is the strengthening of the role and powers of non-governmental consumer organisations. According to the Consumer Rights Protection Law of 1999 the non-governmental consumer organisations have the rights to bring an action in court for protecting consumer rights and interests and represent consumer interests in the court. At present time there are several separate non-governmental consumer organisations. The Latvian Consumer Organisations Association was established in 1999. The main public institution responsible for the enforcement of the consumer rights protection legislation is Consumer Rights Protection Centre, which was established in May 1998. The Centre is responsible also for the market surveillance of most of the non-food products. Other institutions involved in the market surveillance and consumer rights protection are State Sanitary Inspection under the Ministry of Welfare (food safety, cosmetics, household chemicals), the State Pharmacy Inspection, the State Veterinary Inspection, the Office of Excise Goods, the State Metrology Inspection, and the Road Transport Safety Direction. In 1997 the Concept of the National Market Surveillance Program was accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers, and since then it has been realised as subprogram of the Quality Assurance National Programme. The main activities carried out under this subprogram are the division of responsibilities between different market surveillance institutions and training of the officials of these institutions. Taking into account the aforementioned, the Republic of Latvia will not request any derogation or transitional period and proposes that the negotiations within the chapter "Consumers and Health protection" be considered as provisionally concluded.
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