"Consumer protection, with its principles of product safety, producer liability and fair competition, forms a core element of EU legislation and is a precondition for a functioning internal market. Hence there is little doubt that the basics of this acquis should be implemented if possible in full on Day One of a candidate country's accession to the Union. All central and eastern European countries obviously need to enact proper legislation – ideally a comprehensive law on consumer protection – plus the detailed provisions of the acquis. They also need to set up the necessary institutional enforcement through a Consumer Protection Office and its regional branches, equipped and staffed to conduct own-initiative research, to follow up consumer complaints, to operate testing facilities, to offer expert advice, to carry out information dissemination, and to hold a dialogue with the government and the legislature."

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