Out-of-court trade dispute settlements to slowly come to life

The majority of such disputes involve lower sums of money

22. oktober 2015 ob 14.15 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO

Out-of-court trade dispute settlements to slowly come to life. The majority of such disputes involve lower sums of money. Foto: Reuters

The National Assembly confirmed the Act on out-of-court dispute settlements between consumers and providers. According to the ministry, consumers will be more protected while courts less burdened.

The above-mentioned law will ensure efficient, swift, simple and affordable out-of-court procedures for resolving disputes. Those carrying out the procedures will have to be entered into a special register, which will be run by the Ministry of Economy. The new law will be used to settle both domestic and cross-border disputes.
The law envisages that a third, neutral party, becomes involved in the dispute and helps the consumer and provider of goods reach an agreement in an out-of-court procedure. The third person can propose a settlement and make a binding decision on the dispute.

Subject to the procedure will be disputes over more than 30 euros. The maximum price for the procedure for the consumer is set at 20 euros. It can also be lower and the procedure can also be free of charge, if the person dealing with the case makes such a decision.

In general, taking part will be on voluntary basis
At the same time Slovenia's MP also confirmed six accompanying acts, which regulate out-of-court dispute settlements in other fields of industry – acts on consumer credits, postal services, electronic communications, investment funds and management companies, payment services and systems, and energy.