The Regional Inspectorate for Economic Activities (IRAE) has carried out 21 monitoring actions on several regional operators in whose facilities base metals are stored, processed and recovered.
The monitoring actions were carried out on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira, Faial, Pico and São Jorge. As a result of these inspections, the IRAE has been able to detect two irregular situations; the first case concerns the lack of licensing and the second the cash payment for amounts exceeding 50 Euros.
These monitoring actions, which fall under the recently implemented Operational Plan to Combat Parallel Economy, have given special emphasis to the compliance with the tax obligations stipulated for this sector and the new legislation defining the means to prevent and combat the theft of base metals with commercial value.
The law requires operators to register all movements of materials in and out of the facilities and they are also prohibited from making cash payments for amounts exceeding 50 Euros since the theft and illegal trade of base material has grown significantly in Portugal in the last three years.
Furthermore, the law also requires the installation of video surveillance systems for the effective control of the access to the premises and forbids the processing of metals for three days, thus preventing them from being immediately modified.
The new legislation reinforces the power of police authorities and supervising entities, namely the Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities, authorising their entry to the premises concerned.
The Operational Plan to Combat and Parallel Economy is one of the measures included in the Azorean Agenda for Employment Creation and Business Competitiveness with the aim of preventing operators from engaging in parallel economic activities, which distorts competition rules and prejudices the Region.
The Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities plans to develop over 1,600 monitoring actions to combat parallel economy.