On 3 February 2017, this year's first IRZ event took place in Skopje/Macedonia. The seminar on ”Consumer protection under the consumer protection law and its relation to other laws” was organised by the IRZ in partnership with the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.
The event was opened by the Academy’s D/director, judge Aneta Arnaudovska, followed by presentations by Professor Jadranka Dabovic-Anastasovska, Skopje, Marijana Lonchar-Velkova from Macedonia’s consumer organisation and Professor Milena Jovanovic-Zattila from the Nis Law School in neighbouring Serbia.
The event addressed
judges
lawyers and
staff members of ministries and consumer protection organisations.
This wide range of participants and the different backgrounds of the speakers led to lively discussions and an extensive exchange of experience.
The seminar covered the recent integration of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights into Macedonian consumer protection law.
On 6 May 2016 in Skopje, another publication on the European Convention on Human Rights in the Macedonian language was presented, with the translation of the handbook on the European data protection law. This is published by the IRZ in partnership with the Case Law Information and Publication Division of the ECHR, the European Council and the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).
The Handbook on the European data protection law is highly topical because of the widespread tapping of about half a million phone calls in Macedonia. Consequently, there has been a great deal of media interest. The academic portal Akademik and the press agency MIA were amongst those to report on the event.
The event was opened with a welcome speech by the German Ambassador's permanent representative, Hans-Helge Sander. The main speaker was the Macedonian judge at the Strasbourg Court, Dr. Mirijana Lazarova Trajkovska. All the participants emphasised the value of the publication for practical use.
The IRZ hosted the event together with its long-term project partners in Macedonia – the ombudsman, the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors, the Macedonian representative at the ECHR and the bar association.
The event also represented an opportunity to introduce the latest edition of the journal published by the IRZ on European law "Evropsko Pravo" (EP), which has already been running for five years, which also deals with common ECHR topics.
Lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov introduces the joint event with EL§A Skopje at the university
On 6 May 2016, an event was held on the abuse of civil law during the National Socialist era in Germany. The IRZ organised a lecture on this subject in partnership with the Skopje section of the European Law Students Association (EL§A). In spite of the timing of the event, which took place late on a Friday afternoon, more than fifty students attended and stayed on afterwards to discuss the topic in detail.
The event was opened by the President of EL§A Skopje, Maja Veljanova, and lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov, who is a tutor for the EL§A group at the university. The German Ambassador's permanent representative, Hans-Helge Sander, delivered an opening speech in Macedonian.
Lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov introduces the joint event with EL§A Skopje at the university