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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
DTI 7 warns consumers: Watch price tags
IN ORDER to protect consumers from those who will take advantage of possible price changes due to the recent oil price increase, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7 Director Asteria Caberte is again requesting for public vigilance.
Based on experience, DTI 7 said most consumer problems concern price tag, labeling and shortchanging.
However, the office also found that consumers who have knowledge of the law are less likely to be victimized by unscrupulous traders.
The laws referred by the DTI are the Department Administrative Order 9 series of 2002, which provides “Rules on Price Tags/ Labels Authorizing the Use of Shelf Pricing in Combination with Modern Technology for Automatic Product Identification” and Article 50 of Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines.
Caberte emphasized that all establishments must have price tags written clearly, indicating the price of the consumer product, including the value-added tax and other types of charges per unit in pesos and in centavos.
Establishments are allowed to use shelf price on the condition that: an itemized receipt or cash register tape is used and which states the description, size, quantity and individual price of the consumer goods purchased and at least one Price
Verification Counter (PVC) or a similar electronic system is strategically installed to augment shelf pricing.
For a multi-storey establishment, at least one PVC should be installed per storey, Caberte said.
For purposes of determining the effectiveness of the usage of the PVC, the DTI conducts a survey to determine the necessity of installing additional PVCs for each establishment.
Caberte explained that the shelf price is used in combination with the use of product identification codes, which when scanned, will show the price of the item.
Shelf price must be written clearly, indicating the retail price of the consumer product per unit in pesos and centavos, the brand name, product description, net quantity of contents, in terms of weight or measure in the metric system or the numerical count of the product.
The price tag must also be strategically posted beneath or above the shelf on which the goods are on display.
Establishments that cannot comply with the requirements on the use of shelf pricing must use individual price tagging or the requirement on price list or poster, as the case may be.
Caberte underscored that, in case of inconsistencies in the price shown on the shelf and on the product or in the database price, which appears when the item is scanned, the lowest price will prevail.
With this, she is requesting the public to report any tampering of price tags.
She is also reminding consumers that the use of candy as change is considered a deceptive sales act or is shortchanging under the law.
For questions or complaints regarding price tag, labeling and deceptive sales laws, one may call the nearest DTI provincial office.
The telephone numbers of DTI provincial offices are (Cebu) 253-2631/ 2557082, (Bohol) 4113302, (Negros Oriental) 225-4781 and (Siquijor) 480-9065. DTI 7’s hotline is 254-5317. (PR)
(May 11, 2005 issue)
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