On October 4, 2016, at Ayvalık Hall of Biz Cevahir Hotel, a seminar has been organized with the cooperation of the Ministry of Customs and Trade in order to inform the members of the sector about the regulations and inspection practices in Turkey.
As the inspections of the Ministry of Customs and Trade on standards are getting stricter and heavier, it gets to be essential to conform to these standards by manufacturers, importer, and retailers in order to avoid penalties, but more importantly, for the safety of babies.
Perviz Aran, President of BAGIDER, delivered the opening speech at the meeting which representatives of 90 companies attended as listeners. Mr. Aran commenced his speech by reciting the history of BAGIDER and said they will keep on conducting projects such as the URGE (Enhancing International Competition) Project with the cooperation of the members in order to increase the quality standards.
As Meral Karaaslan, Head of the Ministry of Customs and Trade Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance Department of Market Surveillance, commenced her speech; she expressed her contentedness for seeing the mother and baby sector under BAGIDER. Giving information about the Market Surveillance and Inspection activities in Turkey, she explained which products would be inspected by which ministries. She remarked that the cooperation and communication in Market Surveillance Audit Institutes are regulated by “the Coordination Council for Market Surveillance and Inspection” under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy and that mother and baby products usually fell under their category. After talking about the product groups they are responsible for, regulations, inspection fields, raising awareness, importation supervisions (Iris system), penalties through market control and public announcements, Ms. Karaaslan informed the listeners about increasing corporate capacity and educational activities through examples from Works of Raising Awareness on Product Safety. As she concluded her speech, she said they will always support the activities of BAGIDER for the improvement of the sector.
Eng. Atilla Saka, Expert at the Ministry of Customs and Trade Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance, informed the listeners first about the current regulations of Market Surveillance and Inspection, and then the updates on the regulations of Baby Products Standards. After talking about the security standards for every product of the baby products sector in detail, he reminded that these standards are required to be followed. In the end, he summarized the responsibilities of the ministry as the official authority, manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers, and distributors.
Elif Doğan, Inspector at the Ministry of Customs and Trade Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Commerce began her speech by explaining the definitions related to her presentation. After talking about sorts of product supervisions and methods, Ms. Doğan presented examples of “Sampling Tags” prepared during supervisions, and “Market Surveillance Reports” prepared afterward. She also explained the responsibilities of manufacturer and distributors to put safe products on market and concluded her speech by summarizing the enforcements that take place after the supervisions.
Halil Erdoğmuş, Board Member of BAGIDER, talked about the importance of BAGIDER for the sake of the development of the sector and next year’s planned projects such as URGE. Emphasizing the importance of offering safe and healthy products to parents and babies as our final consumers, he talked about the supervision practices by the Ministry of Customs and Trade that take place at retail outlets.
The seminar ended right after the speakers answered the questions of the listeners. The presentation texts have been sent to the participants who wished to have them after the seminar.