The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIC), through the National Institute for Standardisation and Quality (INNOQ), recently held a meeting with the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) to discuss and clarify aspects related to the implementation of product labelling legislation.
According to a press release, at the meeting INNOQ explained how the procedures work and the labelling formats established in Decree no. 15/2006 of 22 June, Decree no. 141/2013 of 23 September, and also highlighted the obligation to label products available on the market.
The organisation pointed out that economic agents have the option of producing labels for products sold on the domestic market as well as internationally. “Labelling proposals must be submitted to INNOQ for approval before being printed in series.”
“The fee for approval costs 2,500 meticais and any irregularities found on the labels during inspection can result in fines of up to 40 minimum wages. The inspection will be carried out by customs at the borders during the import process,” he clarified.
Meanwhile, the CTA called for the inspection to be initially educational and emphasised the importance of professional ethics and deontology in the actions of the inspectors.
“As part of the follow-up actions, it was agreed to continuously publicise the labelling programme in order to make it easier for economic agents to comply with the legislation, thus supporting the government’s objectives in controlling public health,” the document said.
“The parties agreed that at the start of the educational inspection, the agents of the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities will receive clear instructions on their operating procedure, and a clear communication and publicity strategy will be developed to also reach final consumers and sellers,” it concluded.
