IRAE complies with operational plans for defence of Azorean consumers - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

According to its Activity Report, the Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities (IRAE) carried out 4,495 inspections in 2024, 40% above the target set for that year.

Among the number of inspections carried out, 78% fell within the scope of the 13 operational plans implemented during 2024. This is a clear indication of IRAE's proactive approach to conducting its operational activities to protect and safeguard Azorean consumers' rights and interests.

In 2024, IRAE complied with its Annual Operational Inspection Plan, which was divided into operational plans that focused on the areas of public health protection or the safety of consumer goods, for example, namely "commercial practices with price reductions in retail sales," "tobacco" and "availability, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages," among others.

During the same period, 3,973 investigations were conducted, resulting in 674 investigation procedures and 230 administrative offence procedures, and 470 reports were provided by IRAE.

Also according to IRAE's Activity Report, available for consultation at portal.azores.gov.pt, consumers submitted 1,881 complaints in 2024, with 36% being converted into investigation procedures. The remainder concerned acknowledgements of the service provided and complaints whose scope goes beyond IRAE's remit, having been forwarded to the competent entities.

As for this year, we would like to highlight the operational plan, at a regional level, aimed at sales with price reductions in retail sales, such as sales, promotions and clearance sales, the price display on various products and misleading actions.

The implementation of this operational plan, whose inspection actions took place between January 20 and February 28 with economic operators located on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira, Faial and Pico, resulted in the inspection of 226 economic operators and the filing of 8 administrative offence cases.

Among the offences identified are the failure to specify the type of sale, the type of product or the lowest price previously charged, the date of commencement and the duration of the sale, the failure to comply with the deadline of five working days for the trader to submit a sales declaration to the competent authority, the failure to display the sales price both in the shop and in shop windows, and unfair commercial practices.