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Globalization is bringing always need for consumer protection from unsafe food, medicaments and other products and services, for what is a need for analysis, protective measures and policies (Cary C. 2009; OECD 2012). This has bring also the need for consumer to be informed (Mark Armstrong, 2008) to combat against exploitation (Lalita Dhingra,2014).
Consumer protection as it is known today has its roots in the ancient times. Let's go to a period of time when the US Congress made history with the first law of 1872 on consumer protection, where fraud with goods was considered objectionable prosecuted. However, this law did nothing to prevent misleading advertising or unsafe products and hazardous which were used by uninformed customers.
A new development on consumer protection was the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. This constitutes the first act taken by the US Congress to stop abusive monopolies, which directly affect the rights of consumers (The Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890). But federal law doesn’t address this critical area of consumer protection, about the quality of products.
It was the beginning of the 20th century when the movement of consumer protection was marked revival. Propulsion was the book “The Jungle” (of Upton Sinclair), where the author expressed his outrage at the Chicago meat packing. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered that the allegations be verified independently by the federal agents, who confirmed the difficult conditions which meat consumed by Americans. Shortly thereafter the US Congress (in 1906) adopt food and drugs Act which, curbs counterfeit vendors from selling food / medicines and set guidelines for the accuracy of the data in the label.
In mid of 20th century there were two powerful figures on consumer protection, Ralph Nader and John F. Kennedy. In a historic speech (in 1962), Kennedy was the first which affirmed the fundamental rights of the consumer as are today. President Kennedy, in his message to the US Congress said: “The definition of the term consumer involved us in all.” He also, in his speech said: “If to consumers are offered products of poor quality, if the prices are too high, if drugs are unsafe, if a customer is not able to make the best choice due to lack of information, then the dollar has no value, health and consumer safety are vulnerable the national interest is damaged … Consumers by definition include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group … whose views are often not heard.”
The debate on consumer protection in Europe, has its peak around the years 1970 - 1980, where scholars of law have different theses about how they can best be provided this protection. Consumer protection from the European Union is regulated by treaties, regulations, directives and other decisions of the EU institutions (Council Resolution, 1975, Council Resolution 1981, The Treaty of Maastricht 1992, The Treaty of Amsterdam 1997, The Treaty of Lisbon).
The EU fundamental principles of consumer protection (Brussels 2007), in which in the future will have to rely Kosovo advanced legislation regarding consumer protection, are as follows: