ICCC: Counterfeit items in shops

By ELIAS LARI
THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) says shops and supermarkets should stop selling counterfeit products, non-English labelled products and expired goods.
ICCC commissioner and chief executive Paulus Ain re-emphasised this in Mt Hagen last week during ICCC’s spot-check and inspection after noting that shops were not adhering to instructions ICCC had issued previously.
However, Ain also commented that he had noticed that most shops in Mt Hagen had stopped selling those goods following his first visit which, he had removed several of those goods from the shelves.
He said he expected other centres to do the same.
Ain said during similar ICCC’s inspections in Lae, most goods were removed from the shelves.
He said all businesses, particularly retail shops and supermarkets in the country, should know that the public’s health was important and items sold needed to be fit for consumption. “Despite the ICCC’s efforts in enforcing its consumer protection work to ensure consumers are protected against unsafe products, it is still finding non-English labelled products, counterfeit products and expired goods sold in shops and supermarkets,” Ain said.
“I’m not satisfied with the way such products are still hitting the shelves and mostly people (at the grassroots level) are being taken advantage of by businesses. “We would like to ensure that a product purchased by a consumer is safe and fit for use and consumption.”
Ain confirmed that ICCC has had discussions with a number of retailers and supermarkets after identifying non-English labelled and counterfeit products on their shelves.
Meanwhile, Ain said ICCC was an implementing agency focused on implementing the ICCC ACT 2002.