Enforcement in food and

feed control in Denmark

Finn H. Clemmensen, Senior advisor

Danish Veterinary and Food Administration

29. januar 2015

Means to solve a case:

access to premise's
right to take samples
right to all information
right to destroy products
right to close establishments
assistance from the Police

Law on public administration

Procedures for good public
administration.
Simplest requirements to a QAsystem

Law on public access to information

Write down all relevant information,
concerning the case.
Report of the inspection, letters etc.
is normally included in the right of
access to documents.

Publication of results

29/01/2015

Guidance versus authority

The control shall use the sanctions
necessary to ensure that the regulations
are observed

Escalating enforcement
if the enforcement measures did
not have
the wanted effect
only one enforcement notice for the
same offence

Warning
guidance, critic,
recommendation or emphasizes
Warnings are not decisions:
no legal implication
not covered by the Law on
Public administration*

Enforcement notice
Regulated self-control
Add to/change of,
approval/authorization
Documentation
An enforcement notice should never be used
to say that binding rules of law are kept

Ban
-do not ban the use of all ready
illegal products

Stakeholder consultation
If a party to a case is assumed to be familiar with that authority is
in possession of certain information regarding the facts, do not be
decided until the Authority has the party of the information and
given the opportunity to make a statement . However, this applies
only if if the information is unfavorable to the party and is of
significant importance to the decision.
Does not apply if the all in all inadvisable to make a decision, ..br
subordinate to the public interest ..
Right to give opinion

Chapter 6.
Justification etc.
Decisions must be accompanied by a justification, unless decision is
entirely in the stakeholders favor.
Reference to the legal rules under which the decision was made.
The main considerations and administrative practice
Facts

29. januar 2015

Destruction of products

All enforcement notices and bans

should be in writing.

Administrative fines
Will the infringement not involve higher penalty
than a fine, the Minister for Food, Agriculture
and Fishery can decide, that a case can be
settled without the courts involvement, if the
perpetrator declares himself guilty of the
offence and is willing to, within a time line, to
pay a fine.
If the fine is paid in due time, all other
penalties will be annulled

Administrative fines can be used

when
simple/uncomplicated
the infringement is directly
punishable
We have a court practice

 Started without registration or approval

Smaller, uncomplicated cases concerning
labelling and misleading
Cases concerning violation of maximum level
of unwanted compounds
Incompliance with the enforcements notice
or ban
Analytical compounds are not in line with the
list of ingredients

Notifying the Police

Dispensations