The Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS) and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) have drawn up working agreements on the supervision of radioactive materials in consumer products. The agreements reinforce cooperation between the two regulators, and ensure a clear division of tasks. We signed these working agreements on Tuesday 21 October.
Image: © ANVS / Wiebe Kiestra
Joint monitoring of safe products
The NVWA ensures that food and consumer products are safe, preventing people from becoming ill or suffering injury as a result. The ANVS is the nuclear safety and radiation protection regulator in the Netherlands. The working agreements mean that both organisations are collaborating more closely on products that may contain radioactive substances.
Bernd Keller, director of the ANVS Competent Authority:
“Our monitoring has allowed us to detect products that do not belong on the Dutch market. Together with the NVWA, we ensure that these products are recognised and if necessary, withdrawn from the market. In this way, we monitor and augment radiation protection for people and the environment”.
Example: study into kettlebells
A recent example of this collaboration is the study into kettlebells that were potentially mildly radioactive. In that study, the NVWA and the ANVS worked together to assess whether consumers were at risk and to take appropriate measures. The working arrangements enable both regulators to act more quickly and efficiently in situations of this kind. They provide clarity about everyone's roles and responsibilities. In doing so, both organisations contribute to the protection of people and the environment against the risks of radiation.
Esmeralda Wallast Groenewoud, Enforcement Manager at the NVWA:
“We have a social responsibility to monitor the highest risks. We cannot achieve compliance by businesses and consumers, or protect the safety of people, animals and nature, on our own. We increase our effectiveness by working smartly with other regulators who have specialist knowledge, such as the ANVS”.