Importance of consumer legal protection

Consumer protection law is essential to local and regional development, as well as consumer contracts. All these contracts refer to the provisions governing bank loans or loan contracts. Another significant reason for the analytical and comparative treatment between Albanian legislation and other legislation is the “misuse” of the term consumer credit by commercial banks. These financial institutions advertise as consumer loans, a series of loans that are outside the scope of the law on consumer protection. Consequently, regardless of the given denomination, these will be assessed as mortgages or other bank loans provided for everyday consumption purposes.

On the other hand, in the case law, there are almost no lawsuits filed by consumers about consumer credit, the legal basis of which is the law on consumer protection, with the consumer as the plaintiff and the plaintiff party a high-level bank. Second, the Consumer Protection Association informs consumers of their rights and lists the traders who, in recent years, have harmed consumers or intentionally sold goods dangerous to consumer health and safety.

Any rights infringed by the consumer or the Consumer Protection Association may be appealed to the competent administrative authorities charged by the law on consumer protection. Manufacturers and service providers must market regulated goods and services. Safe products and services are goods and services that meet the following:

a) local standards
b) European standards laid down in international conventions
c) consumer legal security requirements

Specific laws covering this area shall establish the rules and regulations related to the standards and conditions of safety and health that a good or service must meet before it is placed on the market. Consumer protection policies, particularly on the tracking and recording of work performed by the Consumer Protection Program, are managed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Consumer Protection Program specifically stipulates the following principles and goals of consumer protection policies:
a) Priority tasks when designing consumer protection policies
b) The program for utilization of funds for the implementation of the functions of the national agenda
c) Analysis of the size of the program framework for the use of financial resources to stimulate the development and activity of consumer associations

The right to consumer protection is a critical factor in the progress of economic entities and of the economy as a whole. Healthy competition enhances efficiency between companies in the free market of products in the commodity market.

Competition market and consumer protection law promote productivity and output-sharing efficiency, where consumer welfare is a crucial issue. To create such an environment, the state maintaining Consumer Rights and Market Competition is the basis of a functioning market economy where market competition is a form of rivalry between companies. Competition is an economic phenomenon in which two or more market operators operate at the same time, produce the same or similar products, and compete against each other through quality, price, and other characteristics of goods or services in Albania.

Historical background of consumer legal protection

According to the Roman jurist Paulus: “The sale originates in the exchange of things.” The sale contract, or as it was then called the sale contract, reflects the first stages of the birth of civil legal relations, where one of the parties was weaker than the other. In the absence of commodity exchange interests, people created some valuable material that would serve as the equivalent of commodity.

Roman law regulates in detail the elements of this contract such as the existence of consensus, the object of the agreement, the price, the rights and obligations of the parties, and the lawsuits with which they could be protected.

What stands out is the relation of the price to the quality of the product.

Pompous points out that it is logical for the very nature of the transaction that the contractors mutually mislead the price of the item. Remedies come in the form of a sanction; it is the fraud of one party to the detriment of the other, as a sale below the price is consciously made by the seller, and the higher price is knowingly accepted by the buyer. The transition from consumer-like contracts to the development of consumer law in the world establishes protection mechanisms. Adherence to specific rules prevents conduct contrary to the principles of free competition and the protection of consumer protection rights.

The law on the protection of competition in the Kosovo economic market and protection of consumer protection rights provide legal protection by ensuring a free and useful competition in the market. Competition law protects consumer protection rights and should be the legal framework for applying relevant competition regulation policies to prevent misuse as well as realize the fundamental principles of consumer protection. Business law, in terms of free-market functions, protects against unfair competition.