In the first reading, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted for the government draft law No. 6134 “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. This document provides for the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the legislation of the European Union – Ukrainian consumers will have the same rights and guarantees as EU citizens.

“In accordance with the European vector of Ukraine’s development and our obligations under the Association Agreement with the EU, the national consumer rights protection system should become compatible with the EU consumer rights protection system. This draft law takes into account the best practices of the European Union in this area and should settle many contentious issues that arose when purchasing in online stores,” explained Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

The draft law provides that buyers in online stores should be protected no less than buyers in traditional offline retail outlets.

Today, unfortunately, when buying goods in online stores, consumers are often provided with inaccurate information about products, their consumer properties, and sellers indicate inaccurate prices and terms of delivery. It happens that the consumer right to terminate the contract, refuse products and be refunded is violated. It means that it is usually more difficult to exchange or return goods within a 14-day period here than in ordinary retail outlets, or it is completely impossible.

There are cases when the website of an online store does not even have information about its address, so the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection cannot check it, in case the buyer complains about the violation of their rights.

The new draft law puts both offline and online stores on equal terms.

Another innovation concerns the simplification of the protection of consumer rights in court. The draft law provides for the exemption from court fees in all court instances of both consumers and public associations protecting their consumer rights. This should help the population to have quick access to justice and increase the level of their protection.

There are changes in the draft law that should support entrepreneurs and help increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses compared to larger companies.

It is proposed to remove such a burdensome norm for small businesses as the commodity exchange fund from the current legislation. These are goods that are provided at the consumer’s written request during the repair of goods of improper quality. Small businesses have no possibility to maintain such an exchange fund, and this, according to current legislation, leads to the imposition of fines for its absence.

“The government must ensure the proper living conditions of the population and create an image of Ukraine as a highly developed state that guarantees the same excellent quality of goods and service in stores as in European countries. We are confident that the new mechanism for the protection of consumer rights will allow us to create a comfortable and safe consumer environment for the population of our country and bring the level of consumption closer to EU standards,” Yuliia Svyrydenko emphasized.