Translated using ChatGPT service.
On September 3, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law to implement the requirements of the EU’s Green Transition Act in Latvian regulations. These amendments oblige traders to provide consumers with clear, essential, and reliable information about products and introduce additional rules to prevent unfair commercial practices. The amendments must still be approved by the Saeima.
The Green Transition Act (Directive (EU) 2024/825 of the European Parliament and Council of February 28, 2024, amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU to enhance consumer participation in the green transition by providing better protection against unfair practices and improving information) introduces special rules to prevent unfair commercial practices related to planned obsolescence, misleading environmental claims ("greenwashing"), deceptive information about the social attributes of products or businesses, or unclear and questionable sustainability labels. It also addresses aspects of the circular economy, such as durability, reparability, or recyclability (i.e., the ability to reuse product parts in the production process). Consequently, traders are required to remind consumers of the legal conformity guarantee for goods, using standardized notifications, and to remind them about the durability commercial guarantee, if offered, using standardized labels. Additionally, traders will be obligated to inform consumers, if the manufacturer provides such information, about the availability of spare parts, estimated repair costs, and other repair-related aspects, using standardized labels and notifications.
It is important to note that the requirements of the Green Transition Act will be incorporated into Latvian regulations not only through these amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law but also through forthcoming amendments to the Unfair Commercial Practices Prohibition Law and two sets of Cabinet of Ministers regulations.
Simultaneously, these amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law include provisions to improve consumer credit regulations regarding advertisements and their content (transferring rules from the Cabinet of Ministers' October 25, 2016 regulations No. 691 "Regulations on Consumer Credit"). To reduce cases where credit is misleadingly marketed to consumers, credit agreement advertisements must include a warning that borrowing money costs money. Additionally, certain advertisements will be banned, such as those encouraging consumers to take out loans by suggesting that credit would improve their financial situation or implying that credit registered in databases has little impact on credit application assessments.
Another amendment to the law stipulates that for failing to indicate the price of a product or service in the manner prescribed by regulatory acts, a physical person can be penalized not only with a fine but also with a warning, considering that violations are often minor and are rectified immediately.
Furthermore, the amendments to the law include provisions to ensure compliance with the EU Regulation on General Product Safety regarding consumer rights in the event of a product recall, including specifying how disputes in such cases should be handled. The remaining provisions of the Regulation will be incorporated into national legislation through amendments to the Law on Conformity Assessment.