Economic control service
The Economic Control Service (WKD) was a branch of the police that carried out enforcement acts in Baden-Württemberg in the area of official food monitoring , environmental protection offenses and in the area of labor law (e.g. illegal work).
tasks
Officials from the economic control service were authorized to enter properties and operating rooms and were trained as food inspectors. They were also allowed to view business records, request information and, under certain circumstances, even in the event of serious violations of the food hygiene ordinance, forbid the owner of the catering establishment concerned to continue. The taking of samples also fell within the remit of the WKD.
resolution
With effect from January 1, 2005, the economic control service was dissolved as part of an administrative reform. Since then, the lower food control authorities - i.e. the 35 district offices - have been responsible for monitoring the businesses that put food , consumer goods and cosmetic products on the market. You take over the on-site control of the company's own internal control (company controls), take official samples (e.g. on the basis of consumer complaints, on suspicion or within the scope of the established sampling plan) and take administrative measures (e.g. punishment of administrative offenses ) with them identified defects are eliminated by the entrepreneur. The actual analytical and expert examination of the samples taken is still carried out by the chemical and veterinary examination offices .
Effects
The Baden-Württemberg model of integrating food controls into the police force was unique in Germany. As a result of the outsourcing, food monitoring of the federal states was structurally harmonized, which, however, had an impact on the efficiency of consumer protection : The previous WKD officials were seconded to the responsible district offices or city administrations for five years, but were able to transfer to the (better remunerated ) Apply for a police enforcement service. The resulting gap in personnel had to be bridged on the one hand by hiring fully trained inspectors from other federal states and by training new food inspectors; With the retirement of the former WKD officials from the food inspection, consumer protection lost a lot of professional experience. Furthermore, additional police officers must now be called in during company inspections if, for example, illegal employment or illegal gambling is discovered or the entrepreneur refuses the inspector access or information because the food inspectors, unlike the WKD officials, no longer have police powers.
swell
- ↑ Law on the reform of the administrative structure, the reform of the judiciary and the expansion of the municipal scope of action (Administrative Structure Reform Act - VRG) of July 1, 2004 in the currently valid version
- ↑ Crisis in food monitoring - the control rate remains below the national average ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article in the Stuttgarter Zeitung from September 30, 2008.
Web links
- Administrative structural reform in Baden-Württemberg on the Baden-Württemberg state portal.
- Historical development of the food control on the side of the state association of food controllers Baden-Württemberg e. V.
- Press release No. 487/2006 of December 18, 2006 , Ministry for Food and Rural Areas Baden-Württemberg.