On Wednesday, 20 November, a conference on consumer protection law “Teaching Consumer Law” was held at the conference hall of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. The opening speech was given by Prof. Dr. Slobodan Markovic, Vice Dean for Scientific Affairs at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. The floor then passed to Vesna Novakovic, head of the Department of Consumer Protection at the Ministry of Foreign and Domestic Trade and Telecommunications, who analyzed the topic from the point of view of this institution. This was followed by a speech from Prof. Dr. Thierry Bourgiugnie, team leader in the project “Strengthening Consumer Law in Serbia” and full professor of law at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
Prof. Dr. Svetislav Taborosi, honorable guest of this conference, spoke on the development of consumer law and the prominence of its elements in the SFRY, analyzing the situation from both a socialist and capitalist aspect. After a memorable speech, our esteemed guest from Great Britain, Dr. Christine Riefa (Brunel University, West London) talked about consumer law in European Union countries and the way that regulating consumer law functions in the relationship between the EU and its member states, concerning the passing of legislation and its harmonization, as well as institutional coordination. Prof. Dr. Vuk Radovic then talked on the genealogy of consumer law and its relationship with contract, tort, company and trade law. The relationship between consumer law and international private law was elaborated by Prof. Dr. Maja Stanivukovic from the Law Faculty of the University of Novi Sad. The conference was honored by the presence and contribution of Prof. Dr. Katarina Ivancevic, from the Union University Faculty of Law, Mateja Djurovic from the Centre for European Policy and of course the organizer of this conference, Prof. Dr. Tatjana Jovanic.
During the conference, a collection of articles titled “Strengthening Consumer Protection in Serbia” was promoted in honor of Prof. Dr. Svetislav Taborosi. The book made a significant contribution towards answering fundamental questions about consumer law protection in Serbia, and across Europe, by pointing to the main values protected by consumer law and ways to protect them in a constantly changing world. Also addressed was the issue of how to apply introduced standards in practice and thus solve the problems that consumers in Serbia face.
At the end of the conference, the Editorial Board of the Student Economic Law Review held the floor. Jovana Veselinovic, the Review’s PR, introduced the Review and its relevant fields, while Rastko Pavlovic, the current student editor familiarized everyone present with the procedure of publishing an article. Ivan Ivanovic, student editor for 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 introduced a special issue of the Review dedicated to consumer protection, as a response to the subject of this conference.
The special issue of the Student Economic Law Review can be downloaded from the following link: Student Economic Law Review issue no. 2012/2
