13/04/2013 00:00
TW
0
STAFF REPORTER

PALMA
PALMA City Council authorities have swooped on a number of trading outlets in the capital's suburb of Pere Garau and confiscated more than 50 textile items citing amongst other law infractions, failure to display sufficient labelling or manufacturing origin.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs councillor, Joana Maria Borras said yesterday that over the next few days, her team is poised to carry out similar operations in another 32 establishments. She explained that the move has formed part of the inspection campaign which has been up and running over the last two months to check on the validity of goods being sold in 61 shops in the area. So far, deficiencies have been detected in more than half of the goods examined.

Borras, speaking at City Hall with Consumer director, Sandra Cevenini, said the crackdown followed in the wake of municipal inspectors becoming aware of “flagrant transgression of by-laws” related to product labelling and to information available to the purchaser. The councillor explained that failure to comply with norms controlling sales of items to the public is in contravention of consumer rights enshrined in the Statutes of the Balearic Islands, and therefore needed to be “nipped in the bud” before such illegal practices spread unchecked. The deficient confiscated items were removed from shelves and stands in the affected shops last Tuesday but remain impounded in the same premises. Borras said that further searches are expected to find plenty of other items which fail to meet legal requirements, and that it is hoped that offending products will be taken out of circulation altogether.

The councillor confirmed that the inspections are to become a permanent feature and will not consist merely of “spot checks.” They will also be carried out throughout the city over the coming months. It is considered by the City Council that neighbourhoods of Palma at a lower end of the socio-economic scale such as Pere Garau are more vulnerable to the infiltration of traders who flood the market which cheap goods but fail to abide by legal requisites in terms of protecting consumer rights. Other such areas include calle Manacor leading up to the Avenidas and the district of Santa Catalina, which has its own local market similar to Pere Garau.