The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reminded establishments to adhere to mandatory certification when selling their products in the market.
“May standards kita nga dapat i-meet that’s why may mga products nga covered sang mandatory standards or mandatory certification because this involve the protection of life and health of the public, (We have standards that should be met that’s why there are products covered by the mandatory standards because this involve the protection of life and health of the public),” according to Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist Demar Solinap.
Solinap and his team previously conducted the monitoring and enforcement on steel bars among hardware stores in Bacolod and Silay cities.
He cited steel bars should meet the standards prescribed by the Philippine National Standards (PNS) as these are crucial in building residential and commercial infrastructures.
“The priority product (for this monitoring) is on steel bars because of the Build Build Build Program of the present administration. They want to see to it that products sold as construction materials, particularly steel bars, are compliant to standards,” Solinap emphasized in an interview with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
During the inspection, some steel bars being sold in hardware stores do not conform to the standards.
These violations include absence of the manufacturer’s logo and incorrect bar sizes.
Hardware stores that failed to comply with the standards faced sanctions such as sealing of substandard products, and issuance of Notice of Violation.
These DTI-sealed substandard products when sold, additional penalties will be given to stores.
Meanwhile, those who received the Notice of Violation were given 48 hours to explain to the DTI-Negros Occidental as to why charges should not be filed against them.
For its part, the DTI has been spearheading trainings on business name registration, contractor’s licensing, and product standards to educate stakeholders, consumers, and business owners.* (LTP/LML-PIA6 Negros Occidental via NDB Photo by Watchmen)