In Vitebsk, the activities of the retail chains "Rodnaya Staronа", "Megatop", "Oma", and now also the "Kenguru" store have been suspended.

Recently, the republican press has been frequently reporting that the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Belarus is suspending the activities of certain stores across the country for violating legislation. Large retail chains are coming under scrutiny.

In Vitebsk, such extreme measures were applied to the stores "Rodnaya Storona", "Megatop", "Oma". And recently, a retail outlet owned by a local entrepreneur, the specialized children's goods store "Kenguru", was temporarily closed. The main reasons were: the sale of goods with expired shelf life, non-compliance with the product range, and unjustified price increases.

And the main motive remains unchanged – the protection of consumer rights.

As noted by Irina Levkovich, Head of the Trade and Services Department of the Regional Executive Committee, stricter liability for gross violations is provided for by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of December 19, 2014 No. 1207, as well as by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of December 5, 2014 No. 567, which expands the powers of the Ministry of Trade and sanitary services. According to the document, the Minister and his deputies, the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the country and his deputies, and the chief sanitary doctors of the regions have been granted the right to suspend the activities of any retail outlet due to serious violations. First and foremost, special attention is currently paid to aspects such as preventing the sale of products with expired shelf life, the availability of domestic goods in accordance with the product range, which, although determined by the business entity itself, must meet certain requirements, as well as preventing price increases, which should be fixed at the level of December 18, 2014.

– The monitoring of the fulfillment of these requirements on an ongoing basis in each region is carried out by trade inspectorates (territorial departments of control of the consumer market control department), which report directly to the Minister of Trade. Not only republican retail chains are in focus; all trade facilities operating in the region are inspected under equal conditions. Therefore, everyone should be prepared for the fact that if previously warnings and orders were issued for violations, then today, as practice has already shown, this can result in the suspension of activities. So, you should pay more attention to compliance with the requirements established by law, – noted Irina Petrovna.

In 2014, the Trade Inspectorate for the Vitebsk region conducted unscheduled inspections of 286 facilities. As a result, 407 administrative offense reports were drawn up for violating the rules. The amount of fines imposed is over 555 million rubles.

– However, one should not think that there was no proper control before. It's just that now there is a mechanism to make control activities more effective and convincing for the owners of trade facilities. In general, this is a planned and systematic work involving many interested structures, including those at the district level, where you can turn if you witness violations, – emphasized Irina Levkovich.

On-site control is carried out directly by the Department of Trade and Services of the Regional Executive Committee, and city and district executive committees. In 2014, over 2 thousand shops, cafes, and restaurants were inspected, 231 administrative offense reports were drawn up, and the amount of fines imposed was 176 million rubles.

A significant amount of work on consumer protection is carried out by the Vitebsk Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, as well as its structural divisions in the regions. Last year, specialists inspected business entities involved in the circulation of food raw materials and food products, including imported ones; samples of raw materials and food products were tested in laboratories for sanitary-chemical and microbiological indicators. Studies are also conducted on non-food items such as clothing, footwear, fabrics, children's goods, and polymer packaging materials. In November, for example, 5 samples of adult clothing were found to be non-compliant with hygienic standards, and the sale of 36 units of goods was prohibited. Based on the violations, 87 officials were brought to administrative responsibility, 305 orders (recommendations) were issued to eliminate violations, and 84 orders were issued to suspend (prohibit) the sale of 1926 units of products.

Employees of the regional State Standard inspection also participate in control measures, checking compliance with legislation regarding the safety of imported goods entering the retail network.

Our customers can be assured that their safety and the observance of their legal rights are constantly being taken care of. However, it is very regrettable that such obvious things as preventing the sale of expired products need to be explained through orders to suspend the operation of a store.

Olga Maslovskaya, "Vitebskiye Vesti"