A Basic Outline of Slovenian Consumer Protection with an Emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution

Abstract

Consumer protection today represents a modern segment of human rights, which in recent years has carved out a wider role in national, European and international law. The objective of this paper is to show the fundamental principles of consumer protection in the Republic of Slovenia, where intensive consumer protection began to take root after the country gained its independence in 1991. In the subsequent 25 years, numerous legal acts have been adopted and documents introduced which either in whole or in part address the protection of consumer rights. The foremost and most basic legal act is the Consumer Protection Act, which has been repeatedly amended and supplemented, with the intention that Slovenian legislation should follow and be harmonised (mainly) with European and international trends in consumer protection. The last important step was taken with the adoption of Out-of-Court Resolution of the Consumer Disputes Act, which entered into force on 14 November 2015. This Act has transposed in the Slovenian legal system Directive 2013/11/EU on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes

Keywords

• consumer protection
• out-of-court dispute resolution
• European Union
• Slovenia