Month: August 2014

(Monitoring of fuel quality – July 2014)(Praha, August 22, 2014) Summer is high and Czechs have become a moving nation – they travel both on their own and in public transport and the need for fuels also remained the same for regular transport and other services. The Czech Trade Inspection Authority has a good news for all users of motor vehicles – in July it detected noncompliance with quality requirements only in 2 diesel fuel samples of all 222 collected motor fuel samples. In both cases it detected less significant shortcomings – lower value...

(Partial report of 2nd quarter of 2014)(Prague, August 18, 2014) Inspections of seasonal clearance sales and special offers keep the Czech Trade Inspection Authority busy all through the year because the Czech Republic is a phenomenon concerning sales as vendors try to keep attention of consumers during the entire year. However, not all of them act correctly and in compliance with law. In the 2nd quarter of 2014, inspectors inspected 667 workplaces and selling points that offered favourable prices within seasonal clearance sales or special offe...

(Prague, August 14, 2014) CTIA warns against the Angelcare device which is without wire cover. The movement and sound baby monitor Angelcare which has various types was notified into the RAPEX system by Malta because it was not secured enough and two cases of strangulation were reported. “The Czech Trade Inspection Authority ordered distributors to equip the product with wire cover to ensure security of babies. Consumers who have already bought the product should ask the distributor for the supplementary safety elements,” recommended the Direct...

(České Budějovice, Hradec Králové, August 13, 2014) Summer season is high and so are the never ending inspections of the CTIA in all regions of the Czech Republic. Inspectors monitor selling of goods and provision of services focused on tourists, regular and occasional visitors and they also inspect compliance with principles of fairness of sale as well as other sellers’ obligations stipulated in legal regulations supervised by the CTIA. During past days, inspectors inspected gardens of restaurants, a fair in Hostinné and organizers of presenta...

(Partial report of 2nd quarter of 2014)(Prague, August 12, 2014) Main touristic season is the period when CTIA inspectors are very busy. From April to late September they monitor selling of products and provision of services in most locations visited by thousands of both Czech and foreign tourists, i.e. a number of cultural and historical sights, accommodation facilities, sport venues as well as stalls with refreshment, souvenirs and various seasonal assortments. In the 2nd quarter, inspectors selected 308 workplaces, including 110 in which sho...

(Prague, August 8, 2014) When on holiday abroad consumers often don’t manage to effectively lodge a claim against a trader from the destination country because of lack of knowledge of the local language. A new mobile application “ECC-Net Travel” by the European Consumer Centres’ Network offers prompt assistance in these situations. It immediately displays consumer rights for most frequent problems, including concrete sentences for such situations in 23 EU languages, Norwegian, and Icelandic. The complete press release is available in the atta...

(Partial report of 2nd quarter of 2014)(Prague, August 4, 2014) Inspections of services provided by tour operators and travel agencies were significantly worse in the 2nd quarter of 2014 than in the 1st quarter. CTIA inspectors detected breaches of obligations stipulated in legal regulations in 27 of 71 inspections, i.e. 38%. Bad consumer news is that the ratio of findings increased by 12% when compared to the previous period. One third of breaches concerned claims, including especially insufficient or deceitful information about consumer right...

(Prague, České Budějovice, Hradec Králové, Ústí nad Labem, August 7, 2014) Besides annual scheduled inspections, directors of regional inspectorates also carry out extraordinary inspections that are connected with traditional fairs and events, inspect consumers’ submissions and monitor fairness of sale and services in summer recreational resorts. Inspectors usually detect a number of shortcomings that most frequently reflect in consumers’ wallets. Organizers of presentation sales events are also pretty active and send consumers deceitful invita...

(Interim report of 2nd quarter of 2014)(Prague, August 5, 2014) 208 of 330 sellers of footwear (63%) failed within an inspection action focused on labelling of footwear in the 2nd quarter of 2014. The results worsened by 12% when compared with the previous quarter. Shortcomings concerning obligatory labelling of material composition of footwear were detected in every fourth Inspected workplace, including 43 cases in which consumers were not informed about prices of footwear. The complete press release is available in the attachment.

(Prague, August 4, 2014) Jiří Fröhlich has become the new spokesperson of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. He will be in charge of activities related to external communication. The Director General of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority selected him to be the new spokesperson. Jiří Fröhlich has had 15 years of experience working in the media. He already started his carrier at secondary school when he worked as a moderator of a regional radio station. He spent five years at the radio Černá Hora and then joined the radio station Frekvence 1...