By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
LAOAG CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry here has
cautioned once again buyers of Christmas lights to properly observe products
safety.
“We strongly advice the public to look for the Philippine
Standard [PS] mark when purchasing Christmas lights to be assured of the
product safety when used according to instructions,” said DTI acting provincial
director Rosario Quodala.
In time for the celebration of the National Standards
Week, the DTI monitoring and enforcement team is currently monitoring retailers
of Christmas lights in this city and neighboring San Nicolas town to ensure
they are compliant with the law.
“The retailers were also taught how to verify
authenticity of ICC stickers using the latest application which can be
downloaded from the Playstore of android phones,” she explained.
As of this posting, the DTI were able to confiscate more
than a hundred Christmas lights which are substandard.
When buying Christmas lights, the DTI reiterated to
consumers to look for the import commodity clearance (ICC) sticker and other
important labels on the package of Christmas lights such as the name, address,
trademark of the importer or the distributor of the product to easily track the
distributor for possible complaints, rated voltage and rated wattage of the
set; rated voltage and rated wattage of the lamp; the words 'For indoor use
only'; the number of this standard (PNS 189:2000), and country of origin.
The ICC stickers can be found either on the wire or on
the package of the Christmas lights.
The DTI also reminded that “consumers can request
establishments to show their ICC certificates to validate if they are transacting
with suppliers that are authorized by the DTI to sell safe sets of Christmas
lights with the ICC mark.”
Manufacturers, importers and retailers found not
complying with the BPS Product Certification Scheme will face administrative
charges for violation of the DTI Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2:2007;
Republic Act (RA) 7394, otherwise known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines;
and RA 4109 or the Standards Law.
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