On 02.07.2020 at 16.00 in the city of Varna, a round table was held, to which representatives of civil society structures, mediators, lawyers and the Civil Procedure Code-Varna and the General Conciliation Commission-Varna were invited. The forum was part of the information campaign under the project "General and Sectoral Conciliation Commissions of the Civil Procedure Code - Civil Control for Efficiency" in implementation of Contract No. BG05SFOP001-2.009-0128-C02, which is implemented with the financial support of the Operational Program "Good Governance" under the procedure "Increasing civil participation in the processes of formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies and legislation". During the round table, conclusions and recommendations were presented, summarized on the basis of research and analyses conducted during the implementation of the project. The attendees were introduced to the structure and functions of the Consumer Protection Commission and the opportunities for citizens to participate at an expert level in the commissions, as well as to monitor the work of the Consumer Protection Commission by introducing a rating system.
Summary analysis of roundtable results
After a series of workshops and roundtables with the Consumer Protection Commission and its representatives in regional branches and with traders and civil society structures within the framework of the project, recommendations for legislative changes were prepared, objectified in our third report: "Recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the general and sectoral conciliation commissions to the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) through restructuring and strengthening citizen participation. Proposals for regulatory changes."
As a result of the discussion with traders, in the sectors - banking services, online sales of equipment, tourist services and construction, at the working meeting in Varna on 21.02.2020. It was concluded that their participation in conciliation procedures is conditioned and directly depends on the possibility of preventing the imposition of sanctions immediately after the initiation of conciliation procedures. The institutional affiliation of the consumer protection authority is recognized by the representatives of the local business community as a control and sanctioning body and there is a lack of full confidence that the conciliation services it provides will be carried out independently and impartially.
It was proposed to prepare a legislative proposal to suspend the administrative-penal procedure, if one has been initiated at the CPC, in all cases in which conciliation proceedings have been initiated before a Conciliation Commission at the CPC or another body for alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
However, trust in the Conciliation Commissions is not low. 36.4% of the traders and civil society structures surveyed in a survey said that they prefer conciliation proceedings to be conducted with the participation of the CPC, although this percentage is slightly higher than the percentage of those who want conciliation procedures to be completely outsourced from the state apparatus and conducted in private ADR centers (27.3% of the surveyed participants in round tables and meetings within the project prefer this second option). 90.9% of those surveyed in the surveys are categorical that the public does not have the necessary awareness of the opportunities offered by ADR and that there should be a structural and functional reform in relation to the organization and conduct of conciliation proceedings by the CPC. Those surveyed stated that the public is not familiar with either the functions in the field of reconciliation or the results of the work of the CPC.
The roundtable participants expressed the opinion that it is mandatory to have an independent and fixed budget to ensure the independent functioning of the conciliation commissions at the CPC.
At the meeting on 18.06.2020 in Sofia, a proposal was made to amend the report with recommendations within the framework of the project by the representatives of the CPC. The proposal regarding the change of the criteria for membership in a conciliation commission at the CPC was not accepted. Criticism was made that conciliators should not only be persons with experience in trade associations in the field of dispute resolution, but also persons who generally have expertise and experience in dispute resolution. This proposal was accepted as good and was reproduced in the proposals for regulatory texts in the third report.
Another criticism that was accepted by the project team was to drop the proposal to the Consumer Protection Commission to operate mobile teams of conciliation commissions that would be seconded to settlements where there are no conciliation commissions at the Consumer Protection Commission. It was commented that online access to conciliation procedures could compensate for the work of such mobile conciliation commissions. In addition, it was felt that the cost of providing these proceedings would be too high in view of the goal pursued, namely the effective resolution of consumer disputes.
At the meeting with traders and civil society structures in Varna, on 25.06.2020 and 02.07.2020 respectively, a comment was made about increasing the sanctions to be imposed on traders for failure to implement the regulatory requirement to inform consumers about the existence of conciliation committees on their websites, in their general terms and conditions and when a claim settlement procedure has been launched. At this stage, this proposal did not find much support from the other participants in the meetings and was not considered by the project team as a legislative proposal.
In addition, the idea of introducing conciliation procedures as a mandatory stage before initiating a court process in consumer disputes was discussed. The discussion outlined an opinion that this model is not perceived to be followed and that the majority of traders and civil society structures are of the opinion that voluntariness should be the guiding principle to stimulate the conduct of conciliation procedures in consumer disputes.
Compiled by a team of project experts
