200
Reports
EFFL
3|2014
The Food Safety Agency and the Consumer Institute Merge
Sebastián Romero Melchor and Sara Aparicio Hill
The National Consumer Institute and the Spanish
Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition have been
merged into a new autonomous body called the Spanish Agency for Consumers, Food Safety and Nutrition by Royal Decree 19/20141 (hereinafter, the “Royal Decree”). Prior to the Royal Decree, these two agencies operated completely independent of each other,
however, they shared similar missions and objectives: the protection of health and the safety of consumers. The Spanish Agency for Consumers, Food
Safety and Nutrition (hereinafter, “AECOSAN”) will
now encompass the powers and responsibilities that
were being performed by both previously autonomous bodies. This change will not result in any
alterations to the existing competences of either of
the two bodies, but will rather entail synergies in the
application of consumer protection and food legislation.
Both agencies shared the same mission in terms
of protecting the health and safety of consumers.
Even if each of them had specific areas of performance, they both were competent in the field of food.
The former Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition was created by law to protect the health of
consumers in the area of food and nutrition. It sought
to improve the overall management of food safety
throughout the production, processing, distribution
and consumption stages of the food chain. In addition, the Spain government established it as the national agency for the cooperation and exchange of information on food safety, operating as a network of
Member State agencies under the coordination of a
future European authority on the subject. The former
National Consumer Institute was responsible for ensuring compliance with general consumer law.
Since both agencies had administrative, analytical
and research competencies that complemented each
other, AECOSAN seeks to integrate and achieve better cooperation of all public actors involved in protecting consumer safety in the widest sense of the
term. The combination of both autonomous agencies
will mean that the protection of consumers is addressed by a single administrative body, under the
same management, which will ensure uniform standards and, thus, an increased efficiency in the use of
public resources. Another example of a structure similar to the one achieved by AECOSAN is the Commission’s DG SANCO, according to the Spanish legislator.
AECOSAN will have the same functions and competences that previously corresponded to the former
two agencies in the fields of consumer protection,
food security and nutrition. Therefore, in practice,
the combination of both agencies should ensure
more uniform criteria in the application of food and
consumer legislation by the competent authority, as
well as a single point of contact for companies, consumer organizations and other authorities.
1
Real Decreto 19/2014 del 17 de enero, por el que se refunden los
organismos autónomos Instituto Nacional del Consumo y Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición en un nuevo
organismo autónomo denominado Agencia Española de Consumo, Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición y se aprueba su estatuto.