Rospotrebnadzor is the agency responsible for monitoring the activities of various organizations for possible violations of laws in the field of consumer protection and norms that reflect various sanitary and hygienic standards. Among the most common activities of the department are field inspections. What are they like? How do organizations need to prepare for them?
Powers of Rospotrebnadzor
What are the specifics of the activities of the agency in question? What does Rospotrebnadzor check if we follow the logic of the powers entrusted to this structure? The main subject of the relevant federal service is the monitoring of the activities of various subjects of legal relations to ensure compliance with a fairly wide range of standards. Primarily reflecting sanitary and epidemiological standards. Another important area of activity of the department is the protection of consumer rights. It can also be noted that this and the previous sphere are largely related.
There are sufficiently specific areas of work of the department. So, for example, many are wondering - what does the Rospotrebnadzor check on the Russian border? He is engaged in work related to the implementation of sanitary and quarantine procedures, checking whether the goods imported into the country, mainly food, meet the criteria established in Russian law. An important area of activity of Rospotrebnadzor is the issuance of various licenses, registration procedures, information work, and participation in lawmaking at the level of interaction with other departments.
Often Practical activities Rospotrebnadzor is associated with on-site inspections of organizations whose functioning in one way or another assumes compliance with the standards and norms laid down in laws and sanitary and epidemiological in nature. Thus, a significant part of Russian enterprises - especially those doing business in the field of catering, pharmaceuticals and other industries, where strict sanitary legislation is in place, has direct experience in communicating with the inspectors of Rospotrebnadzor. What does Rospotrebnadzor check most often? What are the legal consequences of the work of department inspectors on the territory of enterprises?
Features of inspections of Rospotrebnadzor
Inspections conducted by the agency can be scheduled - on schedule, as well as those initiated outside a predetermined order. Consider the specifics of both types of events and examine what the Rospotrebnadzor checks within each of them. As we have already determined above, one of the key tasks of the department is to protect the rights of Russian consumers.
That is, Rospotrebnadzor cannot allow, for example, a restaurant client to be treated to expired or inadequate hygiene standards, or even a product that is prohibited for sale inside the Russian Federation. In other words, the subject of inspections in one way or another will be general - this is the identification of possible violations by businesses of food circulation norms and other standards that reflect the safety of consumer health. What will pay attention if there is a scheduled or unscheduled check, Rospotrebnadzor? What do inspectors check for a particular type of event?
Features of scheduled inspections
The specificity of planned inspections of Rospotrebnadzor is that they are carried out with a frequency of no more than once every three years. An exception is the implementation of the type of measures under consideration in the territory of businesses engaged in the field of medicine, there scheduled inspections go every two years. The schedule for inspectors to make visits to organizations by Rospotrebnadzor should be determined in advance. Relevant information must be posted in advance on the websites of the Prosecutor's Office of the subject of the federation.
At the same time, Rospotrebnadzor must warn the business that inspectors will come, three days before their expected visit. The nature of this legal norm, as noted by lawyers, is that the department is not entitled to conduct an audit if the head of the company is absent from the workplace. He, therefore, must be warned of an upcoming event in advance in order to be able to arrive.
Features of unscheduled inspections
Unscheduled inspections, in turn, are most often carried out by Rospotrebnadzor upon receipt of complaints from citizens or requests from municipal or state authorities. It is possible that an event of the appropriate type will be held if the agency wants to check whether the organization eliminated the violations identified during the previous visit of the inspectors. Next, we will consider a list of possible reasons for initiating off-schedule inspections. Note: how often Rospotrebnadzor checks businesses in an unplanned manner, the law is not clearly defined.
What could be a reason to check
So, what could be the reason for the department to initiate inspections outside the established schedule? The list of circumstances, the occurrence of which could be predetermined by an unscheduled visit of Rospotrebnadzor, is contained in Article 10 of the Federal Law “On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities”. It includes the following items:
- expiration of the instructions issued by Rospotrebnadzor earlier during the inspection of this enterprise;
- the occurrence of a danger to the health of people, animals, plants, ecology, state security;
- threat of emergencies;
- causing harm to people, animals, plants, ecology, state security;
- complaints of citizens about the enterprise.
Many experts believe that this list should be considered exhaustive, that is, if there is no other reason to check the business, then Rospotrebnadzor will not initiate the departure of inspectors. Also, the department will not carry out an unscheduled audit of a business if a citizen reported a violation of his rights anonymously.
As for inspections on items that reflect the danger to the health of people, animals, plants, the environment, the state, as well as the risks of emergencies, the corresponding activities of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare can be initiated urgently - within 24 hours. In this case, the department must coordinate unscheduled inspections with the prosecutor's office. An exception - activities related to studies of the causes of infectious diseases, which have become widespread.
The standard period for notifying enterprises of inspectors' visits as part of an unscheduled audit is 3 days before the event. The department should send a registered letter to the organization with a confirmation of delivery.
The most important nuance: in January 2015, Rospotrebnadzor in the legislative order received the opportunity to send inspectors to conduct inspections in some types of organizations without warning. These include restaurants, chain retailers, as well as food companies. The basis - changes in the provisions of laws relating to the activities of state bodies, which is associated with combating the illicit trafficking of drugs and bioadditives.
According to some experts, such an initiative of the authorities is connected with the practice of the relevant structures in previous years, during which it turned out that Rospotrebnadzor is not always able to detect violations, provided that the organizations are warned about the visit of inspectors in advance.Thus, owners of outlets with counterfeit trafficking managed to eliminate visible signs of violations in carrying out activities.
Documents for verification
Rospotrebnadzor, examining the activities of the enterprise for compliance with sanitary and hygienic legislation, pays considerable attention to checking documents. This nuance, as many experts note, is no less important than, in fact, the identification of actual, significant violations, for example, in the handling of food in restaurants.
What documents does Rospotrebnadzor check? The company must provide them to the agency as part of the following list:
- Correctly drawn up organization sign
- consumer corner drawn up in accordance with the criteria provided by law;
- data on suppliers and contractors (as a rule, these are various certificates);
- documents reflecting procedures for setting selling prices for goods and services;
- rental agreement or documents confirming ownership of the relevant area;
- disinfection, waste disposal, disinsection and deratization contracts;
- medical books for employees, if required by law;
- the conclusions of the sanitary-epidemiological service necessary for running a business;
- required licenses;
- a magazine in which sanitary checks are recorded;
- production control program, which is approved by the director of the company;
- constituent documents, certificate with TIN, Charter - if required;
However, this list may be different depending on the subject of the federation. Experts recommend that entrepreneurs timely clarify the list of necessary documents in the territorial department of the department.
Verification Content
So, having studied the aspect related to documents, consider what the CPS checks - for example, in public catering. The activities of restaurant and cafe owners often attract the attention of the department. The work of content inspectors can, of course, be very different. However, whatever they do, their activities can be divided into three main groups.
First of all, this is a visual inspection of the premises belonging to the enterprise, as well as adjacent territories. What does Rospotrebnadzor check in a cafe and restaurant as part of this procedure? Basically, the work of inspectors is associated with measurements that reflect the size of the area of the premises, the dimensions of the windows and doorways.
Secondly, This is a study of various sections of the business for compliance with sanitary standards. Actually, for many enterprises this is the most problematic procedure. The fact is that it is quite difficult to achieve the ideal quality of products in practice, as experts and many entrepreneurs note. For example, in the list of ingredients for the preparation of a dish, products are regularly regularly found that do not meet the criteria of the department according to some parameters.
At the same time, the legality of the relevant observations is quite difficult to challenge. However, many businesses manage to avoid such situations. Therefore, it cannot be said that the discovery by Rospotrebnadzor of any deficiencies in the ingredients is a common rule. In turn, what the Rospotrebnadzor checks at the pharmacy, for example, will be examined for compliance with other, perhaps more stringent, standards than in the case of catering.
Thirdly, it is a measurement of the conditions for the provision of services or the sale of goods. As a rule, this is associated with measurements of the level of illumination, the external cleanliness of the premises and the compliance of the interior with other comfort conditions that are provided for by regulatory legal norms.
Does the plan matter
Is what Rospotrebnadzor checks during a scheduled check different from the subject of the relevant event outside the established schedule? Unlike, for example, inspections initiated by the Federal Tax Service, which can vary greatly depending on the specific type, the content of the visit of inspectors of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, as noted by lawyers, practically does not correlate with whether a planned inspection or one that goes out of schedule . Thus, entrepreneurs will have to prepare seriously for communication with specialists from the department in all cases.
So, in the framework of the above two-stage scheme, Rospotrebnadzor works if an audit is carried out. What they check, we found out: first, these are documents that the enterprise must provide to the department in a fairly wide range, as well as key sections of the business for compliance with sanitary standards. Both those and other activities of Rospotrebnadzor are characteristic of both scheduled inspections and those that are on schedule. As a result of the event, Rospotrebnadzor draws up a special act, as well as, if necessary, special protocols. What kind of documents are these?
Act and verification protocols
The content of the act is largely determined by what the Rospotrebnadzor checks at the enterprise. This document must be in duplicate. One is handed over to the director of the company on receipt that he has read the results of the audit. The second refers to the institution of Rospotrebnadzor. The fact that one copy of the act was handed over to the director and the other was taken to the department is reflected in the journal, where information about the checks is recorded.
The act is not the only document reflecting the result of the work carried out by Rospotrebnadzor. What the department checks, we have listed - cleanliness of the premises, quality of products, lighting.
However, each stage of the study should be recorded in special documents. According to the regulations, according to which the agency works, these are the protocols.
They reflect the facts regarding the selection of samples of substances for analysis, various expert notes, as well as the explanations of the employees of the audited company who are responsible for a specific section of the production process.
Violations need to be addressed
What obligations may arise for enterprises after a scheduled or scheduled inspection of Rospotrebnadzor has passed on their territory? What they check, we reviewed. What documents are made upon the fact of business research - found out. However, the possible consequences of the checks have not yet been considered.
If inspectors of Rospotrebnadzor detect any violations, what sanctions can they apply? There are several options. Firstly, it can be the execution of the requirements, according to which the company must eliminate the violations discovered by the department. Secondly, it may be fines prescribed by law. Thirdly, Rospotrebnadzor has a number of legal grounds to order that the company’s business activities should be terminated until the discovered violations are eliminated. The term until the business is functioning is up to 90 days.
As for fines, their value usually varies from 10 to 20 minimum wages. However, in some cases, the department has the right to write more serious fines - hundreds of thousands of rubles. A variant is possible in which the company will have to write an explanatory document to Rospotrebnadzor, reflecting, for example, the fact of a consumer complaint regarding the quality of a particular product or service.
When the object of verification is not a business
We examined one of the key business profiles specific to departments such as Rospotrebnadzor. What this government agency checks, we have determined.We also examined the aspect related to the interaction of the department with commercial enterprises. But at the same time, inspectors of this body can also pay visits to organizations that are not related to business. What does Rospotrebnadzor check in a school, kindergarten, medical institution?
Such organizations, as a rule, work at the expense of the state or municipal budget. As a rule, financial plans include the costs of bringing the activities of the institutions in question in line with the required sanitary and epidemiological standards, which such organizations need to fully address the social tasks assigned to them. Inspections of Rospotrebnadzor, as some experts believe, can be largely associated with a study of the effectiveness of spending budgetary funding by institutions. However, Rospotrebnadzor sufficiently strictly checks state and municipal organizations also according to the profile of compliance of their activities with the sanitary norms and standards established in various legal acts.
What does Rospotrebnadzor check at school? First of all, these are the conditions in which the educational process takes place. These include, of course, the level of illumination in the classroom, hygiene in various rooms. What does Rospotrebnadzor check in health facilities? Since medical institutions are, as a rule, medical organizations, the range of studied areas of activity in them is very wide.
The department can check the medical facilities for cleanliness of the premises, conditions for medical and preventive procedures, timely medical examination of specialists. What does Rospotrebnadzor check in the preschool educational institution? In general, in kindergartens, objects, as well as at school, as a rule, are the conditions in which the children are, while the educators deal with them. Especially close attention, experts say, the department can pay inspections of kitchen facilities where food is prepared for children.
What documents should the department have
We examined aspects that reflect what Rospotrebnadzor checks in stores, cafes, services - one way or another, in commercial institutions, as well as in state and municipal structures. We consider some aspects that reflect the need, in turn, for compliance by the inspectors of the department with some formal procedures during inspections.
We noted above that Rospotrebnadzor will require a large number of documents from audited organizations. However, the agency also has a similar obligation. Inspectors applying for an enterprise must also bring certain documents with them. Which ones?
First of all, this is a copy of the order of the head of the territorial division of the department. Based on this particular document, inspectors conduct an audit. The corresponding copy must be certified by the seal of Rospotrebnadzor and delivered to the director of the audited organization. Also, employees of the department, having appeared on the territory of the enterprise, must show their official certificates.
