CONSUMER PROTECTION

General provisions on consumer protection were included in Government Ordinance no. 21/1992 on consumer protection approved by Law no. 11/1994, as amended by:

- Government Ordinance No 58/2000 approved by Law no. 37/2002,
- Government Emergency Ordinance no.146/2001 approved by Law no. 322/2002,
- Government Emergency Ordinance 84/2002 approved by Law no. 37/2003,
- Law no. 240/2004 concerning liability of producers for damages generated by defective products,
- Law no. 363/2005 modifying and completing certain legal acts in consumer protection field in order to fulfil the Romania's Commitments toward accession to the European Union

   Consumers' rights

The consumer is, according to the law, any natural person, or group of natural persons composing an association, who acquires, obtains, uses or consumes products or services, outside his trade or profession.

The consumer has the following main rights:

• the right to be protected against the risks of purchasing a product or receiving a service which may compromise their life, health or safety or which may negatively  affect their rights or legitimate interests; 

• the right to have access to complete, precise and correct information regarding the essential characteristics of the products acquired and the services provided so that the decisions he takes in this respect best correspond   to his needs, as well as the right to get proper education in his quality of consumer; 

• the right to have access to markets which provide a wide variety of quality products and services;

• the right to compensation, by legal means, for damages generated by the inadequate quality of products and services;

• the right to join in consumers associations for the purpose of defending their interests.

The law grants also certain rights to consumers, upon entering into agreements with merchants:

• the right to take decisions upon acquiring products and services by concluding contracts with clauses that should not  promote the use of unfair trading practices or influence his options;

• the right to benefit by a clear and precise drafting of the contractual clauses, including those relating to quality characteristics and guarantee conditions, the accurate indication of price or tariff, as well as establishing the exact conditions of granting credits and paying interests;

• the right to be exonerated from paying products and services not required and not accepted;

• the right to be compensated for damages occurring as a result of deficiency of products or services which are not in concordance with the contractual clauses;

• the right to be provided with the necessary services and spare parts throughout the product average life, as set forth in the normative technical documents or declared by the producer or agreed upon by the parties;

• the right to pay, for products or services used, prices that were agreed upon at the time of purchase; the increase of the initially set price is possible only with consumer’s consent; 

• the right to have the purchased products and services repaired free of charge, as well as to receive damages for deficiencies noticed within the guarantee or validity period; after the expiring of this period, the consumers have the right to have repaired the purchased products and services which could not be used according to their purpose, because of hidden defects occurred throughout their average life.

    Economic operators' obligations

According to the law, an economic operator is any authorized natural or legal person who, inside his trade or profession, manufactures, imports, transports or sells products or parts of products or provides services. The law no.37/2002 defines the producer, the distributor, the seller and the performer.

    Producers' obligations

Producers have to:

• place on the market only safe products, and, if the legal acts in force provided that, only those products which have been tested and/or certified;

• place on the market only those products which meet the prescribed or declared qualitative characteristics; 

• provide consumers with the relevant information to enable them to assess the risks inherent in a product throughout the normal or reasonably foreseeable period of its use, where such risks are not immediately obvious without adequate warnings, as well as to take precautions against those risks; 

• adopt measures commensurate with the characteristics of the products which they supply, including

a) the indication, by means of the product or its packaging, of the identity and details of the producer and the product reference or, where applicable, the batch of products to which it belongs, except where not to give such indication is justified

b)  in the case where appropriate, the carrying out of sample testing of marketed products, complaints investigating and, if necessary, keeping a register of complaints as well as distributors informing by producer of monitoring of these products.

• stop deliveries, respectively recall from the market and from consumers those products considered by the public authorities empowered by law or by the own experts not to be in accordance with the prescribed or declared qualitative characteristics or can endanger the consumers’ life, health or safety, if this measure represents the sole feature to eliminate the non-conformities; recall shall take place as a last resort, where other measures would not suffice to prevent the risks involved, in instances where the producer consider it necessary or where he are obliged to do so further to a measure taken by the competent authority;

• ensure hygienic and sanitary conditions of production, in accordance with sanitary norms in force;

They are liable for the actual and future damage caused by a defect in product, and for that caused both by a defect in product and by the act or omission of a third party.

   Distributors' obligations

• ensure themselves that products offered on the market are safe and meet the prescribed or declared qualitative characteristics;

• do not market products considered to be dangerous; act with due care to help to ensure compliance with the applicable safety requirements, in particular by not supplying products which they know or should have presumed, on the basis of the information in their possession and as professionals, do not comply with those requirements;

• participate, within the limits of their respective activities, in monitoring the safety of products placed on the market, especially by:

a) passing on information on product risks;

b) keeping and providing the documentation necessary for tracing the origin of products;

c) cooperating in the action undertaken by producers and competent authorities to avoid the risks.

• recall from the market any product considered by the public authorities empowered by law not to be in accordance with the prescribed or declared qualitative characteristics, if this measure represents the sole feature to eliminate the non-conformities;

• ensure technical conditions prescribed by the producer, as well as hygienic and sanitary conditions during transport, manipulation, storage and marketing, in accordance with the norms in force.

    Services providers' obligations

• use in their activity only safe products and procedures, by case tested and/or certified according the legal norms in force and immediately notify upon the existence on the market of any dangerous product;

• perform only those services that can not endanger the consumers’ life, health and safety or do not affect their economic interests;

• comply with prescribed or declared qualitative characteristics and with the contract terms;

•  ensure technical conditions established by producers, as well as hygienic and sanitary conditions, in accordance with the norms in force.

 They are liable for the actual and future damage caused by the provided defective service.

    Quality guarantees for products and services

The sellers are bound to remedy all and any deficiency, which becomes evident within the validity or the warranty period of the products, including the long-term use ones, and which is not caused by the consumer. They are responsible for the hidden defects of the products, which do not allow for the intended use of the product or service by the consumer or which may affect consumers' health, life or safety.

Government Decision no. 394/1995 regarding the economic operators' obligations - natural and legal persons - in marketing of long term use products, as amended by Government Decision no. 786/1996, Government Decision no. 792/1997 and Government Decision no. 1219/2000.

Government Decision no. 665/ 1995 regarding replace, remedy or reimbursement of the value of the current use products with quality deficiencies establish the legal framework for guarantees, as amended by Government Decision no. 792/1997.

    Institutional Framework

For protecting consumer rights, there is the following institutional framework:

National Authority for Consumers Protection, which is organized and functions as a specialized body of the central public administration, being legal person subordinated to the Government, according to the Government Decision no. 755/2003, as amended by the Government Decision no. 209/2005.

Inter-Ministerial Committee for Market, Products and Services Surveillance and Consumer Protection, established by the Government Decision no. 681/2001 as amended by the Government Decision no. 144/2004; this Committee is coordinated by the National Authority for Consumers Protection and acts as an instrument for strengthening and solving the co-operation between all actors in the area of consumer protection, both between the public central administration authorities and between these bodies and the civil society.

Consultative Councils for Consumer Protection, established by Government Decision no. 251/1994; these Councils, constituted by representatives of public administration and consumers associations, are operating at local level.

Consumers Associations, established like legal persons; they are acting in view to protect the rights of their members, or consumers in general;

Unfair Terms Commission and a Product Safety Commission, established by Order no. 531/2001, respectively by Order no. 532/2001 of the ANPC President - as independent consultative bodies, composed of representatives of the public administration, consumers and other relevant bodies; the Commissions have the role to analyse the consumers' complaints, in order to evaluate and to issue a consultative point of view and may be consulted by ANPC, by The "Inter-Ministerial Committee for Market, Products and Services Surveillance and Consumer Protection" and by the Courts of Justice.

    Legal Framework

Government Ordinance No 21/1992 on consumers protection, as amended

Law 148/2000 on advertising (O.J. 359/ 2.08.2000), as amended by Law No. 283/2002 and by Government Ordinance No. 17/2003

Law no. 245/2004 on general product safety

Law no. 240/2004 concerning liability of producers for damages generated by defective products

Government Ordinance No. 106/1999 on contracts negotiated away from business premises, as approved by Law No. 60/2002

Law no. 289/2004 on legal rules for credit contracts destined to consumers as individuals

Government Decision  No. 187/2000 on imitations of alimentary products presenting the risk to endanger the health or safety of consumers, amended by Government Decision No. 404/2002

Government Ordinance No. 107/1999 on package travel, approved by Law No. 631/2001

Law No. 193/2000 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, amended by Law No. 65/2002

Law no. 282/2004 on protection of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of a right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis

GOVERNMENT ORDINANCE 130/2000 ON LEGAL SYSTEM REGARDING DISTANCE SELLING CONTRACT, amended by Law No. 365/2002 on E-commerce, approved by Law No.51/2003

Government Decision No. 947/2000 regarding the modalities of price indication for products offered to consumers

Government Decision no. 1553/2004 on injunctions' rules with regard to the protection of consumers' collective interests, as amended by Government Decision no. 1822/2005 

Law No. 449/2003 on sale of goods and associated guarantees (entry into force in 2007 year)

Government Ordinance no. 85/2004 on consumer protection in conclusion and performing the distance contracts for financial services, as approved by Law no.399/2004

Government Decision No. 409/2002 regarding checks of conformity with the rules on product safety, in the case of imported products

Government Decision No. 106/2002 on foodstuffs labelling, as amended by Government Decision no. 511/2004, Government Decision no.1719/2004 and Government Decision no. 1870/2005

Government Decision No. 457/2003 to assure the safety of users in matter of law voltage equipment, as amended by Government Decision no.1514/2003

Government Decision no. 497/2003 establishing the requirements to put on the market and to put into operation the electrical and electronic devices, in matter of electromagnetic compatibility, as amended by Government Decision no. 1554/2003

Government Decision no. 396/2003 regarding the safety of toys users

Government Decision no. 134/2002 regarding the features, classification and labelling of crystal glass destined to marketing, as amended by Government Decision no. 227/2005

Government Decision no. 332/2001 regarding the name, marking of fibres’ content and labelling of textile products, amended by Government Decision no. 25/2002 and Government Decision no 1658/2004

Government Decision no. 26/2002 establishing the labelling requirements for materials used in manufacturing of main parts of footwear destined to consumers

Government Decision no. 745/1999 to approve the Norms regarding the detergents’ labelling

Government Decision no. 1039/2003 regarding the labeling of energy efficiency for cooling installations destined to domestic use, as amended by Government Decision no. 972/2004

Government Decision no. 86/2006 to establish the energy efficiency and labelling requirements for putting on the market the domestic dish-washers

Government Decision no. 1056/2001 to establish the energy efficiency and labelling requirements for putting on the market the electric lamps destined for domestic use

Government Decision no. 671/2001 to establish the energy efficiency and labelling requirements for putting on the market the combined washing – drying machines destined for domestic use, as amended by Government Decision no. 230/2005

Government Decision no. 1252/2005 to establish the energy efficiency and labelling requirements for putting on the market the washing-machines destined for domestic use

Government Decision no. 1274/2001 to establish the energy efficiency and labelling requirements for putting on the market the drying machines with rotor destined for domestic use

Law no. 296/2004 on Consumer Code, as amended by Law no. 363/2005.

THE NATIONAL AUTHORITY FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION Address: 5, Georges Clemenceau Bucharest, District 1 Phone:+40- 21- 312.12.75 Fax: +40- 21- 312.34.62 INTERNET Address: http://www.anpc.ro

   Products with a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers

ANPC is the National Contact Point for RAPEX System - rapid exchange of information system in the event of a serious risk.

The information about the products placed on the market or otherwise supplied to consumers shall be passed immediately to the National Contact Point. In the event of serious risks, this information shall include at least the following:
a) information enabling a precise identification of the product or batch of products in question;
b) a full description of the risk that the products in question present;
c) all available information relevant for tracing the product;
d) a description of the action undertaken to prevent risks to consumers.

    MARKING, LABELING AND PACKAGING OF MERCHANDISE

According to the above mentioned legal framework, there are provisions harmonized with the EU legislation in matter of marking, labelling and packaging of foodstuffs, textiles, footwear, crystal glass, detergents, as well as in energy efficiency matter, for products destined to consumers.