New LEPL market supervision agency to start functioning in 2020

Starting in 2020, in Georgia a new legal entity of public law, the market supervision agency will start operating. This novelty is envisaged by the draft law on amendments to the Code of Product Safety and Free Movement, authored by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

According to the explanatory note of the draft, the new agency will combine part of the functions of the already existing Technical and Construction Supervision Agency (TACSA).

The authors of the bill explain the necessity to create a new department under the ministry of economy, saying that existing TACSA has to carry out fundamentally different functions. They discuss international practice, stating that market supervision agency doesn’t issue a construction permit in any country and these fields are demarcated.

“Issuing permit on inherently special facilities and construction supervision, also, inspecting exploiting units with increased technical risks substantially differs from product market supervision” – say the authors of the bill.

Market surveillance agency will supervise product through documentary and/or technical inspection. It does not cover the supervision of products covered by the "Food/Feed Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection Code".

The subjects to the new agency will, for example, be armature, cement, power cables, or plastic pipes.

"The Market Surveillance Agency is authorized to request the transfer of sample(s) of the product for which it has information and/or reasonable suspicion that the product may pose a threat to human life, health, property and the environment," the bill states.

Interruptions in the process of market surveillance of the agency by the economic operator or failure to comply with the regulator's decision to suspend the sale of the product are subject to fines of GEL 1,000 to 7,000.

The bill envisages the allocation of funds from the state budget for the new LEPL. For this purpose, the state budget of 2020 envisages GEL 1 200 000.

According to the bill, the allocation of the TACSA in the state budget for 2019 was GEL 1 900 000, however, since part of its functions will be transferred to the new agency, the allocation for the TACSA will be reduced in the state budget 2020 to GEL 1 638 000. As for the number of staff, instead of present 62, the agency will have 45 staff positions in 2020; while the Market Surveillance Agency - 35 positions.