Market Monitoring

Why is it necessary to monitor the market?

TO PROTECT CONSUMER'S RIGHTS AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS

Traders and companies selling products and services must meet certain standards to ensure that the market works properly.

The Catalan Consumer Agency monitors the market in order to prevent fraudulent practices that distort the market and to protect the rights and legitimate financial interests of consumers and users. 

TO SEE THAT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE SAFE AND OFFER CORRECT INFORMATION

The Catalan Consumer Agency monitors the safety of products put into circulation in the market and sees that products and services provide information, labelling and usage instructions or warnings so that they can be used properly and safely.

TOOLS FOR CARRYING OUT THESE ACTIONS:

1. Consumer inspection: investigates, checks and monitors compliance with the applicable regulations in the different sectors. It receives reports of offences / Complaints and claims from consumers concerned about breaches of the regulations protecting consumers and users. It inspects shops and businesses involved in selling products or providing services. It also carries out inspection and market monitoring campaigns in order to ensure that sectors considered as priorities are complying with the regulations. In addition, it informs and advises economic agents about the regulations applying to them. Using the alarm/alert network, it detects the presence on the market of products that could pose a risk to the health and safety of people, prevents their sale or orders their withdrawal and destruction in order to prevent them reaching the public.
   
2. Legislation/Procedures and regulation: if the regulations concerning the protection of the rights of consumers and users are not complied with, financial penalties or the destruction or dangerous or fraudulent merchandise can be imposed in order to product the public interest and to prevent the repetition of malpractice in the future.