ARMENIA DOING BUSINESS REFORM PROJECT

Transcription

1 ARMENIA DOING BUSINESS REFORM PROJECT Activity: Proposed Data Collection Framework for Market Surveillance in Armenia Report by Robin Croft 1 NI-CO Short Term Expert Date 5 th June This report responds to the first component of a project for the IFC prepared by Robin Croft, NI-CO expert under contract to Jacobs and Associates

2 ARMENIA DOING BUSINESS REFORM PROJECT A REPORT BY ROBIN CROFT, MARKET SURVEILLANCE CONSULTANT OBJECTIVE This report meets the requirements of the second of the deliverables/specific outputs expected from the Consultant as set out in the terms of reference for Armenia DBRS. INTRODUCTION This is a report that describes the essential framework requirements for the collection, collation and retrieval of business entity premises data in order to inform and support the market surveillance regime in Armenia. BACKGROUND The EMARS Best Practice Techniques in Market Surveillance has assessed the criteria that should be considered in relation to Business Entity Premises Databases and has stated the following: Information Technology (IT) systems and applications Although in principle the administration of a Business Entity Premises Database could be paper- based, IT systems and applications are mandatory from an efficiency point of view. IT enables efficient work flows and allows swift and easy retrieval of information needed for many tasks in the process. The role of IT in market surveillance can be summarised as follows: 1. Facilitating the market surveillance processes The core of market surveillance is a chain of interdependent processes such as inspections, sampling, laboratory testing, interpretation of results, decision making, enforcement intervention and the execution of ensuing legal processes which may culminate in imposing sanctions or other interventions. In all these processes data are generated which are required in the next or in parallel steps. Collecting, administrating and distributing the information required within the organisation can only be efficiently done with the support of suitable IT systems. IT systems also serve to assure the quality and integrity of the data obtained. Software can for example require mandatory input, record metadata (history, date, time, operator references, create or change information etc.) and monitor process progress Making data available where they are needed Quick access to information is a necessity in many of the stages of the process. This applies to the inspector, the laboratory and the departments involved in the legal follow-up. IT can greatly speed up and improve the accessibility of the required information. It enables inspectors to access the histories of the businesses they inspect, to be aware of previous samples taken and of the results of the testing of those samples. This information can be retrieved from the IT system before setting out for an inspection, but better 2

3 still this can be downloaded to the inspector s laptop, either directly from the system or via the Internet. 3. Management tool Easy access to the information collected in the processes makes IT an important management tool. When implemented properly, the system can deliver instantaneous quantitative information on progress and the results of all ongoing and past market surveillance activities. 4. Exchanging information IT systems are also crucial for facilitating the exchange of information between different applications, including RAPEX. To avoid entering the same information repeatedly for each application or database, the authority should aim for a compatible IT system which can communicate with the existing applications. Sources of Information of Business Entity Premises The biggest challenge is to record details of all the business entity premises that are relevant for market surveillance purposes. The initial information requirement is very simple: the name, nature of business and location. Once these have been established, additional information can be added. There will be some local information already held by the Inspectorate and there will be additional information held by other Ministries and Inspectorates. Access agreements need to be reached to use as much of the relevant information as possible. It is also very important to be aware of the presence, location and products of illegal traders although the degree of information will be very limited. It will be impossible to record all the business entities and to keep the data totally up to date but this should not prevent all available information being used. Additional Information This can come from many sources. The main issues will be availability, relevance, whether it is up to date and accuracy. Some sources may be free others may involve a cost. Information from consumers is very important in tracking the locations of illegal or informal traders. As long as the general location and days/times of such trading is known then further information can be obtained during the compliance check visit itself. Definitive addressing Currently, there are a number of national databases of post and property based addresses in the UK. These are commercially available and often provide a basis for building Market Surveillance Business Entity Premises Database. These include: National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) the NLPG aims to provide a comprehensive national dataset of land and property that can be spatially referenced by address and national grid coordinates. The NLPG is managed by Intelligent Addressing and is based on a bottom up process with local authorities creating Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPG). 3

4 These link together, along with other relevant datasets, to form the national dataset (NLPG). Many local authorities have completed building their respective LLPG datasets. However, it requires significant investment and re-engineering of local authority processes, with the result that there are still significant gaps in the completeness of the datasets. Postcode Address File (PAF) this database is maintained by the Royal Mail to support the national postal service and it is sold commercially as an address management product. Ordnance Survey s OS Address Point this database is created from PAF by OS and provides a national geo-referencing address database, which again is sold commercially. HM Land Registry holds and maintains a database of land and property registration and ownership. Valuation Office Agency (VOA) supports the database for domestic (council tax) and non domestic properties for the UK. Consideration should be given as to whether there are similar government or commercial data sets available in Armenia. Such information can provide an additional source of information and may be helpful for the State Inspectorate s as it starts to build a Business Entity Premise Database. Business Entity Premises Information System A business entity premises information system can be a manually operated document or card file system but ideally it would be a computerised database. A desirable system would streamline complex tasks and work processes such as programmed inspections and legislative returns. It would be designed around the actions of the staff in the Inspectorate and would be easily integrated into the organisation of the Inspectorate. The system should ideally use industry standard software as this should allow the databases to work with desktop applications as well as other corporate and inspectorate applications. It also would be beneficial if it supports handheld technology - ensuring that officers make best use of time when on the move if and when resources allow. Such a system will empower inspectors to work more efficiently. If inspectors currently rely on written notes about their visits and to record information about businesses and the checks they have carried out on goods and services and the equipment used. This then has to be transferred onto a database when officers return to the office, which is very time consuming. Equipping officers with mobile technology will enable them to record this information on sited and automatically update the system remotely. However, the most important process is the collection of the necessary basic information in order to start building the database. For this purpose and to manage the database initially any commercial available software such as Microsoft Access or Open Office will be suitable. The most urgent task is to start the process using the most readily available software. 4

5 Business Entity Premise Information The data sets of information that can be attached to the premise record of a business entity could include the following: 1. Details of the business entity: Location of business details Location of trading premises details Contact details Registration details Licensing details Products traded 2. Details of the trading activities of the business entity: Consumer complaints Product recalls Media information 3. Details of the compliance history of the business entity: Compliance visits Samples taken Testing results Warning or caution notices Enforcement actions Legal prosecutions Business Entity Premise Database All inspection services need to be aware of the business entity premises within their jurisdiction and most now have a computerised premises database. A typical database would record a wide range of information about every known trader. The type and detail of the information collected, collated, analysed and available for retrieval together with the range of operational reports readily available will be determined by need and available resources. But even the most basic system should be capable of meeting the minimum level criteria. Minimum level Maintain a document based database of business entity premises, with details of the type business conducted and equipment used. Maintain records of all compliance visits, complaints received and other enforcement history for each business premise. Good practice All records relating to business entity premises, risk category of products, complaints and enforcement activity should be recorded on a computerised database capable of producing relevant reports. History of business entity occupier should be readily available for preinspection information. Trends in inspections' outcomes should be analysed at regular intervals through the production of reports on trading practices or trade sectors. Best practice Database with all the above characteristics and integrated with, or crossreferenced against, other market surveillance inspectorates relating to enforcement and compliance activities. Database integrated with, or cross-referenced against, other business premises databases held by Ministries or their agencies. 5

6 Use detected trends in inspection outcomes to shape compliance inspection visit programme and inform policy development Use database to produce service statistics for performance monitoring. Risk assessment of trade premises Characteristics to be considered when risk assessing business entity premises are as follows: Trading status this covers the business entities position in the supply chain from manufactures and importers, through distributors and wholesalers to retail outlets. Size of entity international and national manufacturers are higher risk rated than small local craft workshops, importer of a range of products are rated higher than distributors of a single product category and small local retail shops are lower rated than internationally owned hypermarkets. Products supplied the type of product normally supplied is assessed with electrical consumer goods, children s toys and nursery products rating higher than paper products or adult clothing in respect of safety. The safety dangers of various categories of consumer goods recorded in any Accident and Injury database or reported through RAPEX or the media should be taken into account Previous history this covers the compliance inspection record of the business entity and includes the results of previous compliance visits; the number and type of complaints received from consumer; previous official warnings, sanctions and prosecutions. It also takes into account the quality assurance systems in place and the degree of management control. These criteria are used to produce a risk score and the priority and frequency of the compliance check visits are then based upon the risk score. A template of a service procedure document for determining risk scores for business entity premises is attached as Appendix A. Risk-based inspection programme The risk scores allow the priority and frequency of compliance check visits to be determined and the inspection programme determines the schedule of visits and identifies the allocation of visits to the inspection teams. Minimum level Operate risk assessment system based on local Inspectorate policies. Inspection programme based on locally determined frequencies, according to risk. Good practice Operate risk assessment system based on agreed Ministry policies. Reassess risk after each visit. Inspection programmes are coordinated with Inspectorate operational plans and service plans. Best practice Operate risk assessment system based on typical EU market surveillance policies. Reassess risk after each visit. 6

7 Inspection programmes are co-ordinated through a Market Surveillance Committee with the operational plans of other Market Surveillance Inspectorates and Ministry and Government goals. Typical example of frequency of visits High Risk premises could be visited 1 or 2 times every year Medium Risk premises could be visited every 1 or 2 years Low Risk premises could be visited every 3 to 5 years No Inspectable Risk premises are not given a frequency rating and would be only visited as a result of a consumer complaint or as part of a specific project. Available solutions Most Market Surveillance Inspectorates in the UK use comprehensive and powerful commercially available software applications to create purpose designed reports, daily worksheets and formal statistical returns. They use the central database created by the software as a part of their daily work - it is used for recording all details of complaints received from consumers; letters received/sent by the Inspectorate; business entity details, results of compliance visits, details of samples taken and their test results; details of enforcement action taken and details of unsafe products. It automatically updates the system, dependent on the risk score, of when the next compliance visit is due. Premises are scored as either high risk, medium risk or low risk using the results of risk assessment and previous visit history to calculate this. The business entities are then inspected on a regular basis using this assessment and other intelligence to determine the frequency of the inspection. Anticipated outputs The database should be capable of producing reports that provide a full range of appropriate management and performance data. Each Inspectorate will have to decide the amount and content of the information that it wishes to collect, collate, analyse and report. However the following data sets will provide a clear template for the type of information that has been found to be useful: Total number of visits daily/weekly/monthly/annually Total number of visits daily/weekly/monthly/annually per geographical area Total number of visits daily/weekly/monthly/annually per product sector Total number of visits daily/weekly/monthly/annually per inspector Total number of visits daily/weekly/monthly/annually per inspector per product sector Total number of samples taken Total number of samples taken per product sector Total number & % of samples found to be non-complaint Total number & % of samples found to be non-compliant per product sector Total number & % of samples found to be non-compliant per product sector taken at producer/importer/distributor/retail/market level 7

8 Total number & % of samples found to be non-compliant per inspector Total number & % of samples found to be unsafe Total number & % of samples found to be unsafe per product sector Total number & % of samples found to be unsafe per product sector taken at producer/importer/distributor/retail/market level Total number & % of samples found to be unsafe per inspector Total cost of samples & cost per product sector Total cost of testing & cost per product sector Total number of visits that resulted in products being suspended from sale & by product sector & by supply chain position Total number of visits that resulted in products being seized & by product sector & by supply chain position Total number of visits that resulted in product withdrawal & by product sector & by supply chain position Total number of visits that resulted in product recalls & by product sector & by supply chain position Total number of unsafe products identified through RAPEX and found in Armenia & by product sector & by supply chain position Total number of consumer complaints of unsafe products & by product sector Total number of consumer complaints of unsafe products verified as unsafe & by product sector This data can then be formulated to provide a detailed account of the risk based inspection work undertaken in a specified time- frame and /or geographical area and can also provide an indication of how effective the targeting has been. The results can be used to inform the next programme as well as being used as part of the Inspector s professional appraisal and training needs analysis. The data can also underpin a textual account of the work done to form the basis of a weekly/monthly or annual performance report. Input and display templates It is important to determine in advance the use for which the reports generated by the database are to be put. This is necessary to ensure that the necessary data is collected and that time is not wasted collecting unnecessary information. The collection template should be designed in a logical manner that aides the data collection process. The display template should group the information to benefit its use by the staff. It is useful to engage with the appropriate staff when the templates are being agreed so that their input can be maximised. An example of the main screen produced by one of these software applications showing the details retrieved of a business entity is reproduced below. This also provides a template for the data entry fields that should be considered. 8

9 Each business entity is given a unique reference number by this particular system. Equally the system could accept unique reference numbers generated by another agency, for example a business registration number. It is open to the Inspectorate to decide how to identify each business entity. The database should also allow for the input and retrieval of consumer complaints. The following is an example of the main screen generated by one of the commercial software applications showing details of a complaint that has been input into the system and the appropriate course of action has been decided. Again this example can be used as a template for the data fields appropriate for the recording and retrieval of consumer complaint data. 9

10 Codes covering products, supply chain position, enforcement actions legal sanctions are often used in these software applications for several reasons: They speed up the recording of data on site They ensure uniform and rapid data input. This, in turn, ensures accuracy when extracting information for statistical purposes. They provide a sophisticated method of grouping and sequencing records within databases. They allow the efficient sharing of information with other organisations that use the same codes Attached Appendices A. Service procedure for determining a risk based score for a business entity premise 10

11 B. Template for Business Entity Record Form C. Template for Compliance Inspection Record Form D. UK Risk Assessment of Premises Scheme 11