Strengthening professional cooperation with neighbouring countries is a pivotal endeavour of the Ministry of National Development and the Hungarian Authority for Consumer Protection. In terms of these international relations, the ministry and the authority are determined to form and maintain cooperation which is practice-oriented and based on mutual dialogue.
The other essential aspect of developing international partnerships is to provide experiences Hungary had gained under EU membership to countries in the path of accession – especially to partners from the Western Balkans. These efforts predominated jointly at the professional consultation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in November 2014 and do so concerning developing consumer protection relations between Serbia and Hungary.
The seventh session of Serbian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation took place on 19-20 November 2014 in Belgrade. The HACP was represented in order to promote consumer protection and market surveillance collaboration. Within the Business Development and SME working group the authority had the opportunity to consult the Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications in professional issues. The parties agreed to review and renew the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2010 and discussed other possible fields of future cooperation.
In order to carry out the tasks set out in the Action Plan of the session, the Hungarian Authority for Consumer Protection jointly with the Ministry of National Development participated a professional meeting in Belgrade on 20 February. Vesna Novaković, Assistant Minister responsible for consumer protection and market surveillance affairs hosted the delegation.
Deputy State Secretary Mr. László Koszorús presented the responsibilities of the Ministry in fields of consumer protection, actions had been carried out so far and plans for the future, in particular to consumer awareness raising and to facilitate effective communication. Representing the authority, Acting Director General Mr. István Szente spoke about the role and duties of the HACP in national consumer protection, emphasising market surveillance and product safety issues to which the Serbian partner pays special attention. Mr. Péter Aranyi International Coordinator of the authority draw up a recommendation to develop bilateral cooperation, placing great emphasis on the possibility to collaborate in international projects.
Assistant Minister Vesna Novaković presented the new act on consumer protection entered into force in summer 2014, which fully implements the EU consumer acquis. Market surveillance is regulated in different sectoral rule of law, therefore information about Hungarian experiences on application and enforcement would be beneficial to Serbia.
Parties have achieved consensus on future cooperation, which will focus mainly on market surveillance issues, providing opportunity to take advantages of accredited laboratories of the HACP. Furthermore, cooperation in projects concerning institution strengthening and cross-border awareness raising could be key elements too. In order to have a better understanding on the Hungarian system in practice, the idea of a Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) study visit funded by the European Commission was also put on the table. The parties have agreed to renew the Memorandum of Understanding – if possible – during the first half of the year.