Consumer Contract Law and the Sustainability Goals in Slovenia: Any Room for Improvement?

The Sale of Goods Directive and the Digital Content and Services Directive were transposed into the Slovene legal system with the new Consumer Protection Act in 2022. This contribution assesses whether and how sustainability goals have been internalised in consumer contract law and policy in Slovenia, particularly in the context of the changes introduced with the Sale of Goods Directive. It focuses on remedies for non-conformity of goods and services, while also examining the obligatory guarantee for technical products, which is a distinctive measure found in the Consumer Protection Act. The current state of play heavily relies on an awareness-raising model and the empowered, eco-friendly consumer, who is expected to purchase eco-friendly goods and resort to eco-friendly remedies in cases of non-conformity. These measures could be further strengthened by encouraging repair and self-repair, supporting replacement with refurbished goods, and extending guarantee periods to promote the production of more durable goods. The contribution identifies the obligatory guarantee as the most sustainability-friendly concept in Slovenian consumer sales law. In particular, it governs repair as the primary remedy and includes provisions on the availability of spare parts and access to repair services. This framework could serve as a model for the system of remedies for non-conforming goods at the EU level.