The constant changes in economic life and legal demands affecting markets nowadays require an increasingly intensive supervision of the economy in order to ensure the legality of the activities of economic agents and to protect public health and consumer safety.

The Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities (IRAE) is an inspection service operating under a special regime to ensure compliance with all standards regulating economic activity. It enjoys independence and technical autonomy in the exercise of its powers and operates as an organ of the criminal police.

The IRAE, as the entity responsible for supervising economic activity, operates throughout the Autonomous Region of the Azores under the aegis of the Regional Secretariat for the Economy.

 The national body with responsibility for analysing and providing information on risks to the food chain, which also serves as the official coordinating body for control of foodstuffs, is the ASAE - Food Safety Authority, created on 1 January 2006 and operating under the Minister for Economic Affairs.