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Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Wednesday unanimously adopted the Law on Representative Claims for the Protection of Collective Interests and Consumer Rights, which should enable complete and timely protection of consumer rights and faster court proceedings.
The law prescribes the rules of the litigation procedure which decides on violations of consumer rights in numerous areas, from general consumer rights and passenger rights to the protection of personal data of users of electronic communications, tourist services and finance.
Presumptions under which associations and federations of associations for consumer protection can be included in the list of authorized bodies for filing petitions and lawsuits are also prescribed.
Grmoja (Bridge): The law supposedly protects consumers, while the government "plays" for banks, telecoms and corporations
Before the vote on that law, Nikola Grmoja (Bridge) said that it makes no sense to discuss laws that supposedly protect consumers while at the same time the government is playing for banks, telecoms and corporations, recalling an agreement signed with banks that the government does not want to make public.
The Parliament unanimously amended the Law on the Croatian Chamber of Engineers of Traffic and Transport Technology, which expands the possibility of joining the Chamber to master engineers who have obtained 300 ECTS credits by completing a professional graduate study in transport.
MPs also voted to amend the Mine Action Act, which should improve and speed up the implementation of demining operations and quality control.
The Parliament also adopted several reports, including reports on the work of the ombudsman for children and the ombudsman for gender equality for 2021, the annual report on the implementation of the National Development Strategy until 2030 for the year 2021.
Its also adopted reports on the implementation of the mine action plan for 2022, and on the execution of the state budget as well as the state of stockpiles for 2021.
The proposal submitted by the Social democratic Party (SDP) and We Can! did not receive the support of the Parliament to amend the Law on Credit Institutions so that debts could not be sold without the debtors being informed to whom and when they are being sold.
Peđa Grbin (SDP) said before the vote that debt collectors are working outside the law, harassing citizens, and the government does not want to apply the EU directive to regulate this. "Either we will help Croatian citizens or side with debt collectors," he said.
The IDS Club's proposal to amend the Law on Construction Inspection, which requested that communal wardens be enabled to stop illegal construction outside a construction area until the arrival of the construction inspection, was also not passed.