Argentine Senasa closes agreement with Mercado Livre to control illegal sale of agrochemicals

Date:03-30-2020

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The National Service for Health and Agrifood Quality (SENASA) in Argentina signed an agreement with the Internet Sales Portal, “Mercado Livre”, to control the illegal sale of agrochemicals online. In order to facilitate control, a platform was created through which products that cannot be sold online appear. When the system detects one of these products, it issues an alert to SENASA and cancels it.

In addition to that, it issues a warning to the user that its deletion corresponds to the fact that it was denounced by SENASA for an alleged violation of Law 27,233, which provides for fines of up to 10 million pesos and for noncompliance with SENASA'S Decree.

The director of Veterinary Products of the Organism, Federico Luna, explained, “Many of the products regulated by SENASA have sales categories, such as veterinary or phytosanitary products. The fact that these are sold on this type of platform does not allow compliance with the requirements for each category. For example, prescription sales or professional advice.”

"This new tool will formalize the marketing channels, where the professional prescriber plays a fundamental role. The products regulated by Senasa have a direct impact on public health, and today, we have one more tool for their control," said Luna.

In this way, the marketing controls of the aforementioned veterinary or phytosanitary products in channels not authorized for this purpose may be improved. The agreement was supported by the Câmara de Sanidade Agropecuária e Fertilizantes and Pela CropLife Latin America.