Month: July 2015

Joint Market Surveillance Action on Consumer Products – JA2014 Successfully Launched by PROSAFE PROSAFE has just launched its biggest Joint Action ever. In the coming two years, 35 market surveillance authorities from 27 EU Member States or EFTA countries will cooperate to target non-compliant products in five categories: safety barriers, LED and CFL lighting, noisy toys, fireworks and power tools. The Joint Action serves several purposes: Firstly, to ensure the safety of consumers by identifying and removing unsafe products from the E...

(České Budějovice, July 24, 2015) Summer touristic season is the period that keeps inspection officers of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority busy. The Lipno dam and the nice weather of recent days is attractive for a number of visitors from both the Czech Republic and abroad. However, CTIA inspectors went there to check the quality of offered services and level of sale of goods. They inspected in total 16 workplaces and detected breaches of obligations stipulated in legal regulations in 7 cases, i.e. 44% of inspections. They imposed on-the-sp...

(Brno, July 24, 2015) Many of us like to take the chance to visit restaurants or bars at night and get a good drink, coffee or a cold drink during the summer holidays. CTIA inspectors also went out, but not to relax, but rather inspect compliance with the Act on Consumer Protection. They inspected offer and sale of spirits in restaurants and night bars, correctness and honesty of sale, information about prices as well as requirements of issued receipts. It was a very pleasant surprise that wrong amount of provided drinks was detected only in on...

(Monitoring of fuel quality in June 2015 and 1st quarter of 2015)(Prague, July 21, 2015) During the first six months of 2015, the Czech Trade Inspection Authority collected in total 1,331 motor fuel samples at filling stations. 21 samples, i.e. 1.6%, failed quality requirements stipulated in technical standards. In the same period of the previous year, the ratio of defective samples was 3.7%. Highest number of flaws was detected concerning diesel, namely in 12 cases. Samples of compressed natural gas (CNG) were the only samples without any defe...

(Prague, July 17, 2015) When monitoring the market with toys, inspectors of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority found a product which poses serious risk of health damage especially to children. Game with a wooden horse puzzle is dangerous as some parts are too small and could be easily inhaled or swallowed when put into the mouth. This could lead to blocking of upper airways or injury of inner organs. With regard to the high rate of risk the toy was notified into the system RAPEX after documentation had been elaborated. The complete press re...

(Pilsen, July 13, 2015) The 50th International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary was visited by not only thousands of film fans and real celebrities, but also officers of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority who were interested in various goods and services offered to the participants of the festival. When compared with the previous year, inspections showed worse results as regards honesty of sale of goods and provision of services. Almost 50% of inspections showed flaws and the director of the inspectorate based in Pilsen made it publicly known in...

In a workshop in beginning of May in Warsaw, PROSAFE presented the progress achieved by the participants in the Joint Action 2013. The two-day meeting was attended by some 35 market surveillance officials and stakeholders. The workshop showed that sampling and testing is well on the way for all five product groups addressed by the Action. Preliminary test results already reveal that the market surveillance authorities have been able to pick the most risky products from the market in their work. The Joint Market Surveillance Action 2013 (JA...

(Interim report of 1st quarter of 2015) (Prague, July 7, 2015) Toys and their safety remain one of the priorities of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. The objective of surveillance is to search for anonymous and risky products in the market, prevent further sale of toys without CE marking as well as toys unequipped with warnings and information about why they are not suitable for children of certain age, and prohibit further distribution of dangerous toys. In the market there is no place for toys containing obligatory information only in a...

(Interim report of 1st quarter of 2015)(Prague, June 30, 2015) The Czech Trade Inspection Authority inspects compliance with the prohibition to use unfair commercial practices within offer and sale of goods and provision of services that infringe certain intellectual property rights based on submissions from owners of intellectual property rights, inspectors’ knowledge or submissions from consumers. Besides sale of counterfeits and copies, these inspections uncover other shortcomings as well. In the 1st quarter of 2015, inspectors proved breach...