Ordinance no. 37/2015 amending some legislative acts in the field of consumer protection (“Ordinance no. 37/2015”) was published in the Official Journal no. 654 of 28 August 2015 and entered into force on September 7, 2015.
This changes Government Ordinance no. 21/1992 on consumer protection (“Consumer Protection Law”) and Law no. 363/2007 on combating unfair trade practices in dealing with vendors and harmonization of regulations with European legislation on consumer protection (“Law no. 363/2007”).
The purpose of these changes is to harmonize the legislation concerning the regulation of unfair commercial practices. Unfair commercial practices are regulated by Law no. 363/2007, which includes a definition of this practice, other than that provided by consumer protection laws. The existence of two different definitions for the same concept previously created difficulties in applying the law on unfair commercial practices.
Consumer Protection Law Changes:
- The definition of “declaration of conformity” now refers only to the statement given by a producer on acceptance of all responsibility, on whether a product meets the applicable law; and
- The definition of “business practices and / or incorrect” is eliminated.
Changes to the law. 363/2007:
- Art. 4 para. 1 changes to an extent in order to clarify that the conditions stipulated in letter a) and b) of the same article had to be satisfied cumulatively for a commercial practice to be regarded as unfair;
- use by merchants of unfair trade practices in general (as defined in Art. 4 para. 1 and 2) constitutes an offense punishable by a fine of 2,000 lei (about 440 EUR) to 100,000 lei (about 22,200 EUR). Previously, according to Law. 363/2007, only the use of misleading, aggressive commercial practices (which are a special category of unfair commercial practices) was considered an offense and punished as such;
- Penalties for the use of any specific deceptive commercial practices listed in Annex 1 to Law no. 363/2007 shall also be applicable using other deceptive business practices that fall under the general definition provided by Articles 6 and 7 of Law no. 363/2007; and
- Penalties for the use of any specific aggressive commercial practices listed in Annex 1 of Law no. 363/2007 shall also be applicable to other deceptive business practices that fall under the general definition provided by Articles 8 and 9 of Law no. 363/2007.
:: The Source: JURIDICE.ro