European Consumer Protection in the initial and advanced Training of judges

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Published: December 20, 2021

Due to pre-accession harmonisation, European law has an impact on the legal system of a country long before it joins the European Union (EU). Therefore, it is necessary for judges there to be informed at an early stage in which area of law "national provisions with a European background" are to be expected. They should be familiar with the legal technicalities of such regulations, including in particular the interpretation in conformity with the directives. A practically very important area of law is consumer law - here judges can benefit from such knowledge.

For this reason IRZ, together with the Centre for Judicial Training of both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organised the online seminar "The impact of European law on national law with special regard to consumer law" on 19 November 2021. The event was made possible with project funding from the Federal Foreign Office.

The speaker was Prof. Dr. Zlatan Meskic from the University of Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who completed his legal training, including court practice, in Vienna, where he also received his doctorate on European consumer law. He then taught European law as part of a Master's programme at Saarland University. With this background, he dealt with the topic with detailed reference to the relevant legal provisions and taking into account the case law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He explicitly pointed out that the Consumer Protection Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not harmonised with the general civil law provisions in numerous places. He also pointed out that the law contained translation errors, which, however, could be overcome by means of interpretation in conformity with the directives.

As a result, the approximately 70 participants from all parts of the country asked numerous questions, made comments and reported on further case law on the topic during the lecture. A lively professional discussion took place.