WITH nine days before Christmas, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao Region said there are no supermarkets and establishments selling Noche Buena items beyond the suggested retail price (SRP) or Christmas lights with no International Code Council (ICC) certification stickers.
In an interview with DTI-Davao director Belinda Ambi, she said that with their continuous monitoring of the Noche Buena SRP and ICC-certified Christmas lights, all supermarkets and establishments are compliant.
“We will issue show cause order for the establishment to show why such price is higher and determine if the cause is reasonable,” Ambi said.
Ambi said there are a few caught to be selling items beyond the SRP but were quick to comply and adjust their prices as soon as the monitoring team of DTI issued and gave them the final list of Noche Buena SRPs.
With only a few days before Christmas, Ambi advised the consumers to not go with the Christmas rush shopping.
“Don’t go into rush or last minute buying. [It is] still better to plan properly and buy ahead of time so they can have a lot [of] choices and buy according to budget,” she said.
As for Christmas lights purchase, Engineer Ruel Braña, DTI-Davao section chief for Business Registration, Licensing, and Accreditation, told the public to not only make sure the lights they bought are ICC-certified but to also read whether these are outdoor or indoor lights.
He added one of the causes of fire, aside from it not being ICC-certified, is the installation of indoor Christmas lights outside the house and be soaked in rain. Braña said it pays to read the labels for safety.