The Food and Economic Safety Authority (ASAE) has opened nine administrative offenses against vacation camps for children and young people in the north and south of the country and suspended the activity of one of them, it was announced today.
In a statement, ASAE said that the nine administrative offence cases were based on the lack of registration and the lack of mandatory communication from the organizer of vacation camps, non-compliance with the implementation of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point).
In addition to these nine cases, ASAE also ordered the suspension of a summer camp for failing to notify the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth (IPDJ) in advance.
This is the balance of the inspection operation that ASAE has carried out in recent weeks, from north to south of the country, on the activity of organizing vacation camps for children and young people between the ages of six and 18.
In this context, around 80 economic operators were inspected, he revealed.
The aim of this action was to guarantee the safety of the summer camps’ target audience, he explained.
“During the action, the organizers were checked for compliance with their legal obligations, in particular with regard to registration and mandatory communication with the IPDJ, licensing of facilities for the accommodation of children and young people, the existence of compulsory personal accident insurance for participants, safety inspections, training and certification of technical staff, cooking conditions and food preservation,” ASAE specified.
In the particular case of vacation camps with sports programs and activities dedicated to sports such as surfing, soccer or basketball, it was also necessary to check the legal obligations regarding the system for exercising the activity of sports coach, he stressed.
“ASAE will continue to carry out enforcement actions, within the scope of its powers, throughout the national territory in favor of healthy and fair competition between economic operators, safeguarding consumer safety,” he concluded.
