ODREĐENI ASPEKTI PREKRŠAJNOPRAVNE ZAŠTITE POTROŠAČA
CERTAIN ASPECTS OF CONSUMER PROTECTION THROUGH MISDEMEANOUR

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with certain aspects of consumer protection under misdemeanour law in the Croatian law. In general, consumer protection in the Croatian law is achieved through different legal sources and several different consumer protection mechanisms. By analysing these regulations and methods of consumer protection, one tries to conclude on the adequacy of consumer protection through misdemeanour sanctions, bearing in mind the protected legal good and the purpose of sanctions. The paper is based on the fact that the general norms of misdemeanour law derive from the Misdemeanour Act and that the goal is to investigate the peculiarities deviating from the existing regulation. The research reveals some specificities and distinctive features of misdemeanour sanctions and misdemeanour proceedings aimed at protecting consumers. Firstly, the focus of protection is on the consumer, who is not uniformly defined in all regulations that foresee misdemeanours. Furthermore, the permissibility of protecting certain legal interests (life, health) by misdemeanour regulations that govern consumer protection is analysed. Additionally, attention is drawn to the shortcomings of the existing framework of misdemeanour sanctions, arising from the implementation of various directives and other European sources aimed at protecting consumers that aim to introduce effective, appropriate, proportional, and deterrent sanctions into national law. Further harmonisation of the sanction framework has been achieved through the recent transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2161, which introduces new criteria for determining sanctions. It also emphasises the application of the non bis in idem principle, which is relevant to national law. Additionally, as a special feature of misdemeanour consumer protection, the principle of opportunity has been analysed in the study.

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