THE CONSUMER PROTECTION IN CROATIA: BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS

Purpose The main goals of the paper are: to present the development of consumer protection in Croatia; to identify institutional framework for the protection of the Croatian consumers; and to investigate the level of satisfaction of Croatian consumers with the current protection of their basic rights. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on secondary (desk) and primary (field) research. Within the framework of secondary research, the relevant domestic and foreign literature with the topic of consumers' protection was used. Within the framework of primary research, the study on the sample of 207 students of the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb was conducted. Statistical data analysis was done using SPSS 13.0., univariate analysis and a chi-square test (with the cross-tabulation). Findings Although Croatian consumer protection authorities pay more attention to the education of consumers there are still many consumers that are not well informed and not interested about their consumer protection. Thus, more actions with the educational purpose should continue among Croatian consumers with more active enrolment of the Croatian Government. Research limitations/implications This research is conducted among students of the Faculty of the Economics and Business and it does not represent the attitude of all Croatian students. Therefore, future study should be conducted on the representative sample of Croatian students. Originality/value The findings of the paper could be useful to Croatian consumer protection authorities and practitioners which deal with the investigated area, due to the fact that they suggest further more effective actions in the area of consumer protection.