The Implementation of the New Consumer Sales Directives in the Baltic States: A Step Towards Further Harmonisation of Consumer Sales

The present article deals with the implementation of the new Consumer Sales Directives (Directives 2019/770 and 2019/771) into the national law of the Baltic States. The topicality of the paper is related to the implementation of the new Consumer Sales Directives into national law in a particular region, i.e., the Baltic States, by analysing implementation approaches and difficulties during the implementation and post-implementation periods from a comparative perspective of all three Baltic states. At the outset, the paper notes the differences in the existing regulation of consumer sales in the Baltic States. Lithuania and Estonia incorporated consumer sales in their civil codifications, whereas Latvia has chosen a different path by regulating consumer sales on the basis of sui generis regulation in the Consumer Rights Protection Law. As a result of such initial situation before the implementation of the new Consumer Sales Directives, different implementation strategies were used in the Baltic States, consequently leading to different consequences and difficulties during the implementation process of the new Consumer Sales Directives. Likewise, the application process of the new Consumer Sales Directives itself has created significant problems and risks. The available legal acts together with their travaux préparatoires in the Baltic States demonstrate the possibility that the new regulation implementing the new Consumer Sales Directives may contradict the existing contract law regulation and data protection law, and have implications thereon.