Balkan Consumer Bridge

Closed

Cross border shopping provides great advantages (better prices) but also risks (different language and legislation) for consumers. Effective consumer protection is essential to increase advantages and reduce the risks when shop cross border. That is why the EU has established a network of consumer centers (ECC-Net) dealing with cross border shopping issues. Our project will follow the model of the ECC-Net to build consumer confidence in the cross border region. The project will provide up to date information on prices through up to date comparative research, build capacity of partners to deal with cross border disputes and assist consumers with problems when shop in the other country. Consumer NGOs are the closest institutions to consumers. As they act independently from the business and politics, they are by definition the most trusted ones. However, lack of resources and experts capacity is often an insuperable obstacle to their work. Cooperation and coordination among these organisations at international level is undisputable necessary as they can very effectively compliment their work in favour of consumers’ well being. Project activities are designed to effectively contribute to encourage cooperation and raising institutional capacity of organisations involved in the consumer protection system and to raise public awareness on legislation for consumers’ protection. It will also prepare Serbian organizations to join the ECC-Net at the time of EU accession. Project activities will directly involve experts from both sides of the border. The activities of the project will promote basic scopes of consumer protection and contribute to their successful implementation.

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