CAA raids 112 shops and canteens near bus stands

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) conducted 112 special emergency raids targeting shops and canteens near bus stands, transport hubs, and main long-distance bus stands in major cities across the country on July 20.

Protecting consumers from unfair trade irregularities occurring near transport hubs where the public and passengers constantly gather was the main objective of this special operation, CAA stated.

Selling beverages, short eats, and packaged food items above the maximum retail price stated by the manufacturer, failing to display the prices of bakery products, other food items, and goods clearly visible to the consumer, failing to state essential information including the date of manufacture, expiry date, batch number, and manufacturer's name and address on packaged goods, and displaying expired food items for sale were revealed during these raids, the Consumer Affairs Authority states.

Arrangements are made to file cases in relevant Magistrate's Courts against shops and canteens that committed these offences under provisions of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act, the authority stated.

The law will be strictly enforced regardless of status against traders selling goods at prices higher than the set price to the commuting public and providing substandard food items, and steps will be taken to continuously conduct such special raids islandwide in the future as well.

The Consumer Affairs Authority requests the consuming public to provide information regarding such unfair trade irregularities to the Complaint Unit via the Consumer Affairs Authority short code 1977 during office hours.