The Chief Sanitary Inspector sends an immediate notification about the commencement of the verification to the entity filing a notification under Article 29 sec. 2 of the Food and Nutrition Safety Act (Dz.U. 2006 r. nr 171, poz. 12250). Article 29 sec. 3, states that the verification above can last up to 60 working days, excluding the time necessary to document the fulfilment of the requirements. However, it is not specified when the proceedings are to be initiated. It seems logical that it should be launched immediately, yet, in practice decisions take months and often the notification of verification instigation is not the first letter.
In its report (P/16/078) - Placing Dietary Supplements on the Market, the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) stated: “It is surprising that between 2014 and 2016, the verification process had not started in fifty per cent of the notification cases (approx. 6,000 products)”. The deadline of 60 days is not a realistic one. In the Report, as mentioned above, NIK states: “After the notification, it took on an average, took 240 days, for the verification process to commence (the most prolonged period was 516 days). The average verification time took 455 days (the most prolonged proceedings lasted 817 days). It also needs to be stressed that the verification proceedings instigated in the period 2009-2010 are ongoing. Their average time is 2,256 days – over six years (the longest lasted over 3,100 days – 8,5 years.