Month: February 2014

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, February 20, 2014) In almost half of inspections carried out by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority concerning sellers of solid fuels in 2013, the inspectors detected breaches of information obligations and principles of fair sale. Sellers most frequently failed to inform consumers about prices of offered fuels, further they damaged their rights by failing to provide ordered weight and incorrectly billed delivered fuels. Last but not least they used weighing instruments without valid certification. Ban on use of ...

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, February 18, 2014) Evaluation of all-year inspection activities of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority focused on contracts concluded away from business premises, especially sales demonstration events, proved that this form of selling belongs among the most problematic fields. Sellers are often aggressive and offers concern poor quality products. In addition, such commercial activities are of high social hazards. Despite all previous information and warnings by the CTIA, only after the release of the documentary ...

(Partial report of 4th quarter of 2013) (Prague, February 13, 2014) The weather didn’t bring expected amounts of snow during the three months of 2013 and Christmas, therefore public alimentation workplaces as well as accommodation facilities and other services aiming at winter touristic season and sports saw much fewer customers than usually within this period. The number of inspections carried out by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority also reduced in terms of inspections focused on winter touristic season in mountain resorts when compared ...

(Monitoring of fuel quality in 2013)(Prague, February 11, 2013) All-year monitoring as well as continuous and targeted inspections carried out by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority in cooperation with other surveillance authorities in the Czech market with fuels have resulted in further slight reduction of proportion of poor quality motor fuels in the retail market. In 2013, CTIA collected a total of 2,495 samples of motor fuels, including 73 (2.9%) that failed requirements of technical standards. The proportion of minor deviations from requi...

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, February 6, 2014) All-year action of Czech Trade Inspection Authority focused on inspection of obligations of operators of secondary raw materials procurement centres proved that more than one third of them breached the obligations stipulated in generally binding legal regulations. CTIA’s authorization to inspections within this field is governed by the Act on Consumer Protection and partly by the Act on Wastes that is inspected by the Czech Environmental Inspectorate (CEI). In 2013, within its inspections the CTI...

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, February 4, 2014) Breaches of intellectual property rights have been a long-term problem with which surveillance authorities of inner market of the Czech Republic dealt with in 2013 as well. With regard to the interest of especially foreign consumers in cheap counterfeits of branded products and copies of both audio and video carriers there are still many entrepreneurs trying to satisfy such demand. Nor frequent inspections or long-term monitoring of large marketplaces can stop them. The same applies to fines amou...

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, January 31, 2014) Higher number of breaches of the Act on Consumer Credit and higher fines – this is the summary of results of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority within inspections focused on intermediaries and providers of consumer credit. Violations of applicable legal regulations were detected in 65% of the total of 319 inspections. The Act on Consumer Credit was breached by almost a half of inspected non-banking subjects that intermediate or provide consumer credit. Most frequently, the act was infringed whe...

(Final report of the project for 2013)(Prague, January 29, 2013) In 2013, CTIA carries out inspections focused on gypsum plasterboards and accessories, i.e. construction, connective and fastening components, metal beads, grouting materials and gypsum based adhesives. At 7 manufacturers and 24 distributors, inspectors of the Technical Inspection Department checked a total of 77 product types used for installation of gypsum plasterboards and detected shortcomings in 53 cases. The shortcomings concerning installation components and other accessori...

(Brussels, January 14, 2014)  The Joint Action 2011 has recently completed the testing of 25 lawnmowers. Two thirds of the tested lawnmowers did not comply with safety requirements. The results of these and other product tests in this Joint Action will be presented at the final conference of the Action on February 19, 2014. The entire press release for download (PDF):