THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assured stakeholders of its regular monitoring of hardware stores in the region to ensure that only standard-compliant products are available in the market.

DTI-Central Luzon director Judith Angeles, in a statement, said DTI personnel have been assisting the Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) in checking hardware stores and steel manufacturing plants even before the magnitude 6.1 earthquake that affected the province last month.

“This is to ensure that only certified construction materials falling under the Mandatory Products category are being manufactured, distributed and sold in the market,” Angeles said.

Just a week after the April 22 quake, Angeles said DTI-FTEB, together with personnel from regional and provincial conducted a surprise monitoring and enforcement operations in Angeles City, Porac town and in major cities and towns in Central Luzon.

“The FTEB randomly checked the markings, sizes and weighed pipes and steel bars from the hardware stores to check if they comply with the Philippine National Standards,” she said.

Aside from issuing show cause orders and notices of violation for erring hardware stores, Angeles said the DTI monitoring team continues to remind hardware stores to sell only certified construction materials for the safety of consumers.

Under the law, mandatory products such as steel bars and cement products that did not pass the product certification process of the Bureau of Philippine Standards are prohibited from being distributed and sold in the Philippine market.

Aside from the confiscation of uncertified products, the DTI may also impose fines on distribution and selling of construction materials not complying with Philippine Standards.

The DTI may also recommend closure of establishments selling mandatory products without Philippine Standards (PS) license for locally manufactured products or Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) for imported products.