CONSUMER POLICY

On 16th and 17th October Commissioner Neven Mimica visited Croatia to raise consumers' awareness about their rights and encourage people not just to know their rights but to use them. Within his mission, the Commissioner met with national authorities, consumer organisations and the public to discuss how to improve consumer conditions in the country and make sure people reap the full benefit of their rights as EU citizens.

To raise awareness among Croatian Consumers about their rights, Commissioner Mimica launched a major consumer information campaign. The campaign, designed exclusively for Croatia, as the EU's newest Member State, will run on TV and online media for a period of one year. Consumers will be able to get special advice over the phone by dialling 072 414 414. Four regional consumer advice centres set up by the Ministry of Economy and run by the consumer associations Potrosac in Zagreb, Osijek and Pula, and by Savez Udruga za Zaštitu Potrošača in Split will also be available to help consumers.

Commissioner Mimica met with Croatia's Minister of Economy, Mr. Ivan Vrdoljak, , to discuss how best national institutions can help strengthen consumer culture in the country. They also discussed ways to provide consumers with better enforcement and redress mechanisms, to ensure that consumer legislation is respected in practice.

Commissioner Mimica paid particular attention to young people, who are the consumers of tomorrow. He met a group of students who used the ConsumerClassroom.eu educational platform as part of their lessons and discussed with them the application of consumer rights in the context of online shopping.

For consumers to be able to take maximum advantage of their rights, they should be able to get good and competent support. As part of the visit to Zagreb, Commissioner Mimica met with representatives of Croatia's main consumer organisations and discussed possible ways to strengthen their capacity and support them in assisting citizens.