On 01.07.2024, Act No. 108/2024 Coll. on Consumer Protection and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts came into force. The Act also amends the Civil Code.
The most significant changes concerning traders are:
– regulation of discounts – the trader is obliged to indicate the lowest price at which he sold the goods in the period of 30 days before the reduction in the price of the goods, or from the beginning of the sale of the goods if he sold the goods in a period of less than 30 days before the reduction in the price (in the case of a gradual reduction in the price of the goods, he may indicate as the previous price of the goods the original price of the goods prior to the first reduction in the price, regardless of the time of the sale or provision of the goods);
In order to ensure that the fines imposed are effective and proportionate, the penalties for breaches of the obligations imposed by the Consumer Protection Act are modified. In contrast to the previous regulation, the upper limit of fines is set as a percentage of the trader’s turnover, while the maximum amount of fines is set at a fixed amount. For example, in the case of a breach of a trader’s information obligations, the amount is EUR 200,000.
In addition, the Act also introduces completely new legal institutes, on the basis of which traders who violate their obligations in the field of consumer protection will not be sanctioned or will be sanctioned with a lower penalty. Such is the institute of voluntary action, which is a binding declaration in writing by the trader that he will voluntarily put an end to the breach of the obligation, or remedy the situation for the benefit of the injured consumers.
Major changes to the Civil Code concern the provisions on consumer sales contracts and the new special regulation of consumer contracts with digital performance. The liability for defects in consumer sales contracts is also changing. In case of exercising the right of liability for defects, the consumer is first entitled to choose to have the defect remedied by replacing or repairing the item, and only if this is not possible (e.g. if the seller has not repaired or replaced the item, or if the item has the same defect despite repair or replacement), the consumer may claim a discount on the purchase price or withdrawal from the contract.
On 28 March 2023, Members of the European Parliament from the relevant committees adopted an opinion on a new package of measures relating to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
The amendment to the consumer law came into force on January 6th 2023. In practice, this means that a purchase contract concluded today is already subject to the amended consumer law.
