Consumer Affairs Authority nets Rs 35m in fines

by Carol Aloysius

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has collected Rs. 35 million in fines from errant traders this year.

The fines cover a wide range of sub quality or overpriced consumer goods ranging from cooked and ready-made food, spices, drugs, electrical goods and clothes, Deputy Director, Regional Affairs, Asela Bandara told the Sunday Observer.

Over 16,000 vendors selling such goods now face court sentences, while 12,000 had already paid the fines imposed on them by the courts.

The CAA in a raid on Thursday found over 25,000 kilogrammes of dates with expired dates at a warehouse at Urugodawatte, believed to have been stocked ahead of the Ramazan festival.

Director General CAA J.M.U Douglas told the Sunday Observer that the CAA had conducted over 4,500 raids in the past four months and most of them related to overpricing, contamination due to exposure and adulteration. “We have set up a hotline for the public to send their complaints on the grounds of confidentiality”, he said.

Top priority is being given for GCE (O/L) and (A/L) Commerce students, housewives and traders to educate them on consumer rights and protection under the Consumer Act, on the initiative of Internal Trade and Co-operatives Minister Johnston Fernando.