2017 Activities

Blacklists and Penalties..The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity AMAN Demands the Government to continue Fighting Food Spoilage through Food and Drug Safety Commission

Blacklists and Penalties..The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity AMAN Demands the Government to continue Fighting Food Spoilage through Food and Drug Safety Commission

The Coaltition for Accountability and Integrity AMAN has sent a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Rami Al-Hamdallah emphasizing the need to deal with matters regarding food spoilage in absolute trasparency, due to its impact on the development of the Palestinian economy and its reputation and the citizens trust in the Palestinian economy. This was due to the state of confusion and blurriness caused by the media for such issues recently, praising the efforts of the competent authorities in combating economic crimes, which have increased in the recent period.

Moreover, AMAN noted that it had dealt with this issue several times, emphasizing that the problems related to food and drug safety lies in the multiplicity and overlapping competencies and the dispute between the competent authorities in following up files in such matters, in addition to the lack and dispersion between legislation governing food spoilage, drug crimes and human and financial resources in the Economic Crimes Prosecution, in addition to the lack of inspectors and vehicles for inspection, particularly in both the Economic Ministry and Ministry of Agriculture.
Among the problems is the absence of the Palestinian Council role in consumer protection, in addition to the conflict in the statstics ussed by the prosecution and by competent authorities as well, as well as the non-publication of blacklists of those who are involved in such crimes, and the secrecy of the names and quality of seized goods, and the absence of penalties which decrease the repetition of such crimes.

In its letter, AMAN has empahsized the need to coordinate efforts to combat the phenomenon of food and drug spoilage and called for establishing a food and drug administration  in line with international experiences with requisite autonomy to carry out its work, lead by the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for monitoring, supervising and following up on food and drug in the Palestinin market, providing its human and logistical work requirements, and coordination with other revelant authorities.

Among the recommendations suggested by AMAN, is the need to provide Customs Police with staff of other security services to enable them to perform the tasks in protecting borders and preventing corrupted goods from being imported, in addition to developing law regulations in consumer protection, to strengthen the deterrence of those involved by withdrawing licenses, and adding corrupt traders to blacklists.

AMAN concluded its message by referring to its intention to support the formation of a civil coalition which includes local consumer protection assosiations in order to activate its role and contribute to support the official efforts in this field.

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