SANECA – Discussion table on developments and challenges in the field of trade and market surveillance of food and non food products and consumer protection, 09 March 2022

On March 9, 2022 was held a discussion table on the challenges in the field of trade and market surveillance of food and non food products and consumer protection, within the project SANECA – Component of involvement of civil society, organised by GIZ in cooperation with European Movement in Albania (EMA). This activity was organised in a hybrid format, with physical participation at Xheko Imperial Hotel and online participation on the ZOOM platform of members of chapters 1, 3, 20, 18 coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

The activity was opened with a greeting speech by Gledis Gjipali, Executive Director of EMA.
Afterwards, the word was taken by Laureta Spahiu, Advisor of SANECA / GIZ project, who, among other things, underlined the importance of this platform and the opportunity that it brings in the communication between interest actors and government, encouraging the members of such platform to try not only to participate, but also to be actively involved in discussions.

In the first part of the activity Julian Llupo, expert on trade and market surveillance, explained the legal and institutional framework where we are for the moment and also introduced the New EU Regulations 2019/1020, the changes that it brings and the expected implications. Llupo brought in attention the directives of the new approach such as: toy safety, safety of machinery, personal protection, gas equipment etc. Also he made a comparison between the old and new approach, making questions on the level of preparation to bring changes and challenges for the implementation of the New Regulation, where he specified that so far 55% of the Acquis of this chapter is (partly) harmonised from the Albanian legislation. The new regulation brings innovations in terms of the modification of the production chain, where service providers are added as responsible actors. The focus of this Regulation is the improving of infrastructure, the growth of information and cooperation and the empowering of the role of the state institutions on market surveillance. In this session an open discussion was held together with participants for the way in which this new approach will be released, as well as the importance of the documentation.

In the second part of the activity the main speaker was Granit Sokolaj, Executive Director of the Alert Centre and member of the table on Chapter 28. He brought in attention the experience as an actor of interest in the consultation process and the importance of information regarding consumer protection. More specifically, Sokolaj spoke about the role of the media to inform the consumer and the importance of communication and the cooperation with state institutions, distinguishing some practical cases in the role of anon-state actor (as civil society or as media). He pointed out the small number of complaints from the consumers, who follow this approach rarely, directing the attention once again in the absence of consumer information.

The discussion with the participants highlighted the importance of creating a new information program on consumer protection, not only in the big cities, but in other areas of the country too. With interest from participants was to know the issues that were expected to be discussed in future tables.