The National Service of Health and Agri-Food Quality (Senasa) continues to work on its make transparent the sale - via the Internet - of veterinary and phytosanitary medicines intended for animal and plant production, and provide security to consumers, extending its orbit of action to all e-commerce platforms, according to the statement.
The person in charge of the Senasa Digital Media Monitoring and Inspection Program, Rosina Leicht Ziegler, explained that the Agency has the support and collaboration from the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) and the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) through duly signed cooperation agreements."
"On the one hand, we take advantage of the vast experience they have in digital regulation and oversight, and on the other, we share data and information that allow us to identify the owners and/or users of different domains or websites, whose content may be infringing, to notify them and give them a peremptory period of adaptation, in addition to providing them with pertinent technical-regulatory advice, as required by each particular case," he explained.
In addition, Leicht highlighted that, “in the private sector, we have a signed agreement with the largest e-commerce company in Latin America and the seventh in the world, Mercado Libre, with a presence in 19 countries. In addition to this work that we have been developing with ANMAT, AFIP and Mercado Libre, a cooperation work initiated with NIC ARGENTINA is added, National Agency in charge of registering and enabling all .com.ar domains in our country."
In this regard, and through joint and coordinated work with ANMAT and NIC ARGENTINA, a virtual meeting was held with representatives of Facebook and Instagram, it was agreed that both platforms would collaborate so that Senasa could request the removal of publications or profiles when the sale of veterinary and pharmacological products intended for pets, non-domestic animals, unregistered animal feed, fertilizers, phytosanitary products and articles of our competence, which violate current regulations, is detected.
The person in charge of the Program assured that, "also from the area we generate periodic reports and statistics that allow us to have a clearer picture and identify which are the most sensitive products and those on which a greater volume of infractions are detected, to optimize their approach and to be able to develop different actions and communications in parallel. The purpose is persuade, inform and raise awareness to users in general, on the rules that regulate sales on these digital channels and avoid sanctions."
The Program seeks to ensure that the presence of the National State in the transactions carried out on these digital platforms helps to make the activity transparent and provides a greater and better degree of certainty to the consumer and the general public about the products they purchase.
“From the presence of Senasa in this type of digital transactions, The number of queries and the initiation of registration and recording procedures for new products, which until now had not had their situation regularized, increased.. This allows a greater number of users of the public system to market their articles within the framework of the law, providing security to consumers. It is a great achievement for Senasa to use this digital inspection tool that puts us on par with other technical agencies of the State," Leicht concluded.
The digital operation developed by the Program allows providing transparency and traceability of its activities, identifying the most sensitive issues and addressing them from a more comprehensive and current approach, is 100% environmentally friendly since no material inputs such as paper or ink are used, and one of its main characteristics is that IT DOES NOT GENERATE ANY EXPENDITURE FOR THE NATIONAL STATEIt is the result of the commitment and effort of all professionals, technicians and human capital who work together to provide a better result for citizens.
Free market
Meanwhile, the Agreement with Mercado Libre allowed the introduction of items exclusive to Argentine territory in its Publication Policies. For example, in the articles and products offered in the category of “agrochemicals, fertilizers and land” Two mandatory fields have been added that sellers must complete when creating a post: "Product registration or inscription number with Senasa" and "Establishment/company authorization number with Senasa", which allows buyers to know which products are duly registered and which are not.
In addition, Mercado Libre updated its list of Prohibited Products, which are found in its “Terms and Conditions of Use of the Site”, and incorporated those that are under regulation by Senasa and works in a coordinated manner with the State Agency's teams, "to support and facilitate our oversight tasks, and to provide more and better information to its users," said Leicht.
Mercado Libre's cooperation also included a Internal communication made to 130.000 sellers on the site who offered products as “organic” (those under the jurisdiction of Senasa) informing that the regulatory framework that regulates organic, ecological and biological production in Argentina is the exclusive responsibility of this health agency and where it was redirected to the official Senasa website to raise awareness and inform users about the mandatory requirements for obtaining this certification.
Likewise, Senasa asserted its intellectual property rights due to the improper use of the name or brand within the site.
Results
More than a year after the start of the Agreement, statistics show the 12.540 infringing publications were detected and removed. Of this total number of products, 10.965 reports correspond to veterinary, pharmacological and animal articles and/or products whose commercialization is prohibited; 867 reports correspond to articles such as: animal feed, organic, ecological and biological products and 708 reports correspond to articles such as agrochemicals, fertilizers and plants, among others.
The districts of the country where the sellers of the products reported in violation are registered: 722 correspond to the province of Buenos Aires; 555 to CABA; 48 to Santa Fe and Córdoba; 17 to Mendoza; 9 to Río Negro; 7 to Entre Ríos; 6 to Misiones; 5 to Tucumán and Jujuy; 4 to Corrientes; 3 to Catamarca, Chubut and Neuquén; 2 to Salta and Santiago del Estero and 1 to Chaco, Formosa, La Pampa, San Juan, San Luis and Tierra del Fuego, respectively.
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