ANPC has started the checks of economic agents on the coast

The checks carried out at economic agents on the coast this summer season will be under the light of advice and prevention, said Paul Anghel, the general director of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), on the occasion of the launch yesterday, in Mamaia, of the Coastal Command 2024, according to News.ro.

Paul Anghel specified: "This year, the checks and controls on the Romanian coast will be under the light of advice and prevention. Sanction and control only in situations where there will be, I know, God forbid, food poisoning or special situations. We went to the information side of the economic operators, we went to the side of their advice. We have launched certain guides, either on the public catering side, or on the accommodation-tourist reception side and in the entertainment area. I explored the Romanian coast long enough in advance, I found certain locations that did not correspond, but which along the way aligned with the legal requirements. There are those who are seasonal, seasonal economic operators and who come for a short period disturbs in a way, in quotes, the peace of economic operators who have been investing for years on the Romanian coast. We are Romanians, we are patriots, we want the Romanian consumer to come to the Romanian coast. We assure him that the National Authority for Consumer Protection as well as the other authorities ensure that he has a pleasant relaxed holiday and, why not, in accordance with all legal standards".

The head of the Constanţa County Commissioner for Consumer Protection (CJPC), Horia Constantinescu, said that he is not the one who will spoil the summer season.

Horia Constantinescu said: "I am not the Grinch, the one who ruined Christmas, nor the one who will ruin the season, but we must remember that several years ago our authority initiated and succeeded in transposing into a normative act the idea commercial register. We start from this idea. It is not normal for any permanent state authority to come and advise someone who has been either advised or sanctioned for the same misconduct in the past. And we will keep this in mind for sure. And it is also not normal for someone to start a small business without enough information. I used to say that, just like you don't start driving the car first and only after that you start seeing what you have to do to get the driver's license, neither in the case of these cascarabets, dughenes or whatever you want to call them, I don't it seems normal to overshadow important investments in Romanian tourism".

He warned that the measures will be firm against those who endanger the health of consumers.

Horia Constantinescu said: "Certainly and with regard to situations that flagrantly endanger the health and why not the lives of consumers, the measures will be extraordinarily firm because it would seem strange to me to say no, no, no it is good to poison your fellows with fish kept in improper conditions or with other equally dangerous products. Of course, we will keep an eye on what it means to develop a fair coastline, and where economic operators have understood from past years that they have to comply with certain legal requirements and must also align with some newer ones, we will certainly be by their side to managed to bring them to the level that we all certainly want, eliminating them in this way, I think, the unfair competition by sanctioning those who did not understand anything from the past years".

According to the balance sheet of the Coastal Command 2023, last year in the summer season the teams of ANPC commissioners carried out 2,120 control actions, as a result of which they applied 2,496 contravention fines, in the total amount of 12,296,580 lei, 1,662 warnings, they decided to definitively stop trading of non-compliant products, worth about 1 million lei, and the temporary stoppage of the provision of services, until the deficiencies are remedied, for 220 units.

Among the most frequent deviations found by the ANPC commissioners, during the last summer season, were: the sale of expired food products, the use of water with an analysis report indicating a large amount of E-coli, the modification of the thermal state of food products, the use non-compliant storage conditions, the marketing of food products with modified organoleptic characteristics, the use of scales without metrological verification certificates, the use of unsanitary storage spaces and refrigeration spaces (with a large amount of rust, with mold, liquid leaks, dust, food scraps), with a thick layer of ice, in the freezing area, non-compliance with the temperature regime for keeping hot/cold dishes, the use, when preparing other products than those mentioned in the menu (substitutes for cheese , whipped cream etc.), without this being brought to the attention of consumers, failure to fill in the frying oil change charts up to date, cleanliness deficiencies in the rooms intended for accommodation and on the access routes to them, the existence of damaged furniture in the accommodation rooms , of infiltrations and mold, damaged painting, rusty equipment, the use of unsanitized, damaged bed linen in the accommodation spaces, with hairs present, the lack of mattress protectors and other equipment and the lack of authorization to operate.