Wednesday, October 22, 2008 DTI to strictly watch Christmas lights By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Southern Mindanao will focus its monitoring on the presence of uncertified and substandard Christmas lights in Davao Region.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Paciente Cubillas, senior trade and industry development specialist of the Consumer Welfare and Trade Regulation Division (CWTRD) of the DTI-Southern Mindanao, said that DTI has been monitoring products in the market whole year round.
"DTI's monitoring is done whole year round, but DTI gives focus on different items being monitored every month. This season, we are monitoring Christmas lights in the market," Cubillas told Sun.Star Davao.
Cubillas said that establishment owners who will be caught selling uncertified or substandard items will immediately be charged.
Uncertified items are those that do not bear the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) for imported items, and Product Standard (PS) marks for the locally manufactured ones.
DTI, on the other hand, defines substandard items as those which do not pass laboratory testing by the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS).
Cubillas failed to reveal as to how many establishment owners were charged by the DTI last year for selling uncertified items.
"We do not warn them, we immediately file charges against them," Cubillas said, adding that the minimum fee for selling uncertified or substandard items is placed at P500, but this could increase depending on some factors, such as resistance of owners against DTI personnel, and others.
Cubillas said DTI-Southern Mindanao will monitor Christmas lights being sold in both retail and wholesale establishments in the region.
