The representatives of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) announced, on Thursday, that they issued fines worth 30,000 lei in the case of billboards with anti-caesarean section messages in Bucharest. They mentioned that the representatives of the entities involved in the design, financing and dissemination of these messages did not transmit the information requested by ANPC.
“The National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), in the exercise of the powers conferred by the incident legal framework, intervened quickly as a result of the appearance, in the public space of Bucharest, of billboards likely to influence consumer decisions. The institution’s actions aimed at verifying the factual situation and identifying all the entities involved in the design, financing and dissemination of these messages, in order to assess their compliance with the legal requirements regarding consumer protection”. the ANPC commissioners sent, in a press release, on Thursday, News writes.
They mentioned that “the representatives of the targeted entity were invited for clarifications and for the presentation of the relevant documentation, but they did not comply with the request and did not transmit the necessary information”.
ANPC added that in the absence of the representative, a record of the infringement was drawn up, with contravention sanctions in the total amount of 30,000 lei, as well as the complementary measure of proposing the issuance of the Order to cease the unfair commercial practice.
“ANPC emphasizes that, by virtue of the normative framework that regulates its activity, it has not only the competence, but also the obligation to intervene whenever consumers are exposed to practices likely to affect their economic behavior or decisions, including through public messages. Compliance with the principles of fairness, transparency and adequate substantiation is an essential condition for any form of communication addressed to the public”the cited source also transmitted.
The Bucharest City Hall announced, on Sunday evening, that all three display companies agreed to remove the anti-caesarean sections from the city, the operation being scheduled for Monday.
The College of Doctors from Romania reacted last week after billboards containing messages about caesarean section versus natural birth appeared in Bucharest.
“Through surgery, caesarean section disables the vital process of natural birth”, is one of the messages posted on the boards.
The doctors drew attention to the fact that the statements lack scientific foundation, and the medical information must be correct and scientifically validated.
The President of ANPC, Békési Csaba, had announced last week that the procedure to identify all the entities involved in the design, financing and dissemination of anti-cesarean messages distributed in Bucharest had been initiated, and their representatives were invited to the institution’s headquarters.
