KUCHING: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has listed 18 items under the Festive Season Price Control Scheme (FSPCS) in conjunction with Aidilfitri and 14 items for Gawai Dayak which will be celebrated in June.
Sarawak director, Datuk Stanley Tan said the scheme comes into force on May 25 to June 7 for Gawai and May 21 to June 19 for Aidilfitri under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011.
He said the price-controlled items were live chicken, standard chicken, super chicken, chicken eggs A, B and C, imported beef, dried chillies, tomatoes, imported round cabbage (Indonesia and China except Beijing), coconuts, grated coconut, small onions (India), imported big onions, garlic (China), imported potatoes (China), “ikan kembung” and “ikan selayang”.
In conjunction with the Gawai festival, three more items under the FSPCS are live pigs (controlled at the farm level), pork (belly) and pork (meat and fat).
“In addition, traders should also ensure that each weighing and measuring instruments used for business must have a sticker attached with the verified expiry date, weight capacity, and serial number of the weighing scale,” he told reporters after the inspection of weighing and measuring devices at the Satok commercial centre here yesterday.
He said consumers were also entitled to ensure that any weighing scales used by the traders had the stickers and legal action would be taken against traders who owned and used weighing and measuring instruments which were not verified by the ministry.
The government and enforcement agencies viewed this matter seriously so that traders are aware that their weighing devices need to be verified and the law has already been enforced.
He said since Jan 1 to May 16 this year, 137 cases of weighing and measuring devices worth RM68,725 had been reportedly seized in Sarawak with compounds amounting to RM27,950.
Traders may be subject to legal action under Section 14 (6) of the Weights and Measures Act 1972 with a fine not exceeding RM40,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, or the weighing or measuring instruments may be confiscated.
Tan said the public could ask any questions or voice complaints by calling the ministry’s call centre at 1800 886 800. – Bernama
