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Consumption and the Tax Agency reinforce border control of unsafe products

Thanks to an agreement signed today between the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the State Tax Administration Agency

  • This initiative is part of the “plan of measures for the safety and control of consumer products in the market” presented last November by the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Bernat Soria.
  • The National Consumer Institute will inform the Customs Department of the companies that imported alerted products during the last two years
  • There will be a list of products for which the CE marking is required and other documentary requirements may be claimed and specific controls may be carried out on certain consumer products.
  • The Customs department will include the identification of importers considered risk in its analysis systems
  • So far in 2008, there have already been 712 notifications of non-EU products, 64.37% of all those registered.

 

June 24, 2008. The Consumer Authorities and the Tax Agency continue to work to increase the security of citizens and have agreed on new measures to prevent the entry of unsafe products into our country. These products fundamentally come from third countries and are introduced into our market across community borders, violating European regulations in this regard.

The initiative is part of the “Plan of measures for the safety and control of consumer products in the market” presented last November by the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Bernat Soria and has the support of the Sectoral Conference of Consumption, the highest body of institutional cooperation between the State and the Autonomous Communities in this matter.

The measures adopted aim to prevent events such as those that occurred last year when the withdrawal from the market of certain products that compromised consumer safety created social alarm, especially those aimed at children, one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

AGREEMENT

Starting from this basis and with the aim of maximizing consumer safety, an agreement was signed today by the general director of Consumer Affairs and Citizen Services and director of the National Consumer Institute (INC), Etelvina Andreu, and the director of the Customs and Special Taxes Department of the State Tax Administration Agency, Nicolás Bonilla. These organizations depend, respectively, on the ministries of Health and Consumer Affairs and Economy and Finance.

This agreement creates a system aimed, on the one hand, at increasing the exchange of information on certain unsafe consumer products and, on the other, at verifying that imported products have the necessary documentation to support compliance with current legislation for its commercialization in the national market.

CONTROL ACTIONS

In the specific field of control actions in Customs, the following are contemplated:

  • Determination of risk importers

    The INC will inform Customs of all the data it has about companies whose products have been included repeatedly in the RAPEX in the same year. The list of these companies will be updated periodically and, at least, once a year.

    The Customs Department will include the Tax Identification Numbers of these companies in its risk analysis systems to carry out the corresponding filters.

  • Determination of products requiring CE marking

    The INC will prepare a list of products for which this marking is required at the time of importation and will regularly send to the Customs department the list of new products included in it.

    Based on this list, Customs will establish a system of control filters for said products, in accordance with the tariff classification of the goods.

  • Requirement of additional requirements to the CE marking

    The INC will analyze the opportunity to require documentary requirements (declaration of conformity or technical dossier) for imported products.

  • Determination of risk products by alert

    Customs will establish control filters based on the information received and, if it discovers alerted merchandise, as stipulated in Regulation (EEC) No. 339/1993, it will retain the merchandise, notify the INC and, where appropriate, prohibit the import.

  • Specific controls on certain consumer products

    The INC will determine, based on the communications received, the products with a risk alert and will inform Customs, providing all the data and elements that allow better identification of the same as well as the criteria regarding the elements that may make the product unsafe.

    For its part, for the time considered necessary, the affected customs or customs will carry out physical controls on the products considered.

  • Non-compliance

    In general, if as a result of the controls non-compliance is observed in the tests carried out by the INC, or the product lacks the CE marking or has been imported by an importer classified as a risk, the procedure stipulated by the aforementioned Regulation 339/1993 will be applied. .

    Even if none of these non-compliances are noted, Customs will act in accordance with the aforementioned Regulation in the event that the product may be considered unsafe based on the instructions prepared by the INC.

    If there is nothing relevant, Customs will release the merchandise and inform the INC.

MONITORING AND TRAINING

In addition, by virtue of the agreement, a Monitoring Commission is created, jointly and appointed by the parties, which will control its development, prepare schedules of actions for specific special controls of certain products and will be responsible for resolving doubts and differences of interpretation that may arise. .

Likewise, this Commission will schedule the training actions that the INC and the Tax Agency will develop jointly so that the latter's officials can expand their knowledge about the requirements regarding consumption of imported products.                         ALERT PRODUCTS FROM THIRD COUNTRIES

During recent years, more than half of the alerts generated in RAPEX were for products coming from countries outside the EU. If in 2004 these alerts amounted to 334 (51.56% of the total), in 2007 they reached the figure of 1,412, 63.47% of those notified last year.

So far in 2008, there have already been 712 notifications of non-EU products, 64.37% of all those registered.

If we refer to the number of alerts that have been issued since 2004 as a result of border controls, Spain, with 29, occupies second place among the member countries, only surpassed by Finland whose customs controls detected 49, and far from the third place that They occupy Hungary and Italy, with six each in the entire period. This demonstrates the effort already made by customs authorities to guarantee the safety of consumers.