Organized this week from June 5 to 9 by The Consumer Rights Protection Centre, a delegation of 6 representatives of Ukrainian state administrative institutions is on a study visit to Latvia to share experience, improving knowledge and competences in the field of market monitoring and control.
A delegation representing the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Customs Authority, the State Labour Inspectorate, the Centre for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, as well as The Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning is visiting Latvia as part of the Twinning project "Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Development and Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine in the field of national quality infrastructure".
During the visit, representatives of Ukraine can familiarize themselves with the market surveillance system in Latvia, gain experience and knowledge on how to conduct inspections in non-food areas, including import inspections, as well as providing support to merchants in fulfilling requirements and promoting consumer involvement.
During the visit, the delegation is visiting The Consumer Rights Protection Centre, The Ministry of Economics, The National Customs Board of The State Revenue Service, The Health Inspectorate, The State Construction Control Bureau, The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, The Latvian national standardisation body Latvian Standard, Latvian National Accreditation Bureau, The Latvian National Metrology institution – Metrology bureau, Riga Technical University, as well as Elektrum Energy Efficiency Centre.
It should be mentioned that Ukraine plans to conclude a mutual recognition agreement with the European Union (EU) in three areas: machinery, electromagnetic compatibility, and low-voltage safety, where an important prerequisite will be harmonization of regulatory acts and monitoring practices with EU requirements.
The purpose of the project "Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Development and Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine in the field of national quality infrastructure" is to strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework of Ukraine to ensure an effective quality infrastructure by correctly and effectively implementing the regulatory acts of accreditation, standardization, market surveillance and consumer protection. The main activities and tasks of the project are related to the development of technical regulations, improvement of the field of conformity assessment and accreditation, mapping of notified conformity assessment institutions and strengthening of individual institutions, improvement of the field of market monitoring and consumer rights protection, and education of the private sector about the main benefits of quality infrastructure system reforms.
The basic idea of the Twinning projects funded by the EU is to help strengthen the administrative and human resource capacity of the public administration institutions of the ENI (European Neighbourhood Instrument) and IPA (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance) countries, attracting experts from the EU member states and creating the opportunity to form partnerships and cooperation between different countries.
