EU funded Twinning project under the IPA 2013 instrument worth € 1,425,000.00 was launched during a kick-off conference held on November 02^nd 2017 in Belgrade with the aim to further strengthen and solidify the system of consumer protection in Serbia, implemented by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia with Member State support from Hungary and Slovakia.Accession to the EU cannot be considered to be a success without the active participation of consumers who are often referred to as key players of market economy and this participation is dependent on consumers having confidence that their interests will be protected.

Therefore, the overall objective of the project is to ensure that Serbian administration effectively conducts accession negotiations and successfully manages overall EU integration and pre-accession assistance geared towards EU membership, specifically in the area of consumer protection.

Under the Twinning instrument the European Union supports institutional cooperation between Public Administrations of EU Member States and of beneficiary or partner countries. In the scope of the  project launched today the general objective is to put in place legislative and institutional capacities for the efficient carrying out of accession negotiations and for fulfilling the requirements of EU membership which will result in proper and effective implementation and enforcement in the field of consumer protection in Serbia.

Throughout the 24 months of implementation project partners, namely the Ministry of National Development of Hungary, Regional Development Agency Senec-Pezinok from Slovakia from the member state side, in collaboration with the project beneficiary Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication of the Republic of Serbia, will do their utmost to help further development of consumer protection by amending and harmonizing the existing consumer protection legislation, drafting strategic documents in the field of consumer protection, holding relevant awareness raising media activities, trainings, consumer fairs, study visits and alike.     

As an outcome of this project it is expected that consumer protection in Serbia can further improve having efficient legislative means to protect interests of consumers and raise general awareness of consumers, traders and also consumer protection professionals.