Vendors in Oman warned against flouting laws

Muscat: Importers and vendors of products have been warned by the Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) against flouting the laws and regulations in place for the protection of consumers.
The vendors have also been warned against providing any false information to the consumers about the products.
The PACP warning comes as two persons have been sentenced to a combined jail term of eight months, and were slapped with a fine of a total of OMR44,000 for violating the Consumer Protection Law, the Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) said last Saturday.
The report, published in Arabic on the Authority’s website, says the Primary Court in Ibri has charged the two with a series of offences, including failing to withdraw food unfit for consumption, threatening the well-being of consumers, and falsely informing consumers.
According to the report, the highest penalty (three months jail and OMR30,000) was given for selling products that do not meet the official requirements.
A fine of OMR2,000 and a jail sentence of one month were given for falsely informing consumers about the products that were being sold.
Said bin Salim Al Omairi, legal expert and designate Director of the Dhahira office of PACP, said that during an inspection visit to the Al Dhahira region, one of the shops was found selling frozen chicken which weighed less than indicated on the packaging.
The Authority earlier got information from the Saudi Rapid Food Alert Centre that frozen chicken from an international company, with production dates between 1-1-2015 and 1-12-2015, contained the Salmonella bacteria.
The expert said that it is forbidden to sell products infected with the bacteria in the GCC states.
Following this information, the authority took samples of frozen chicken from shops in the Al Dhahira region. After examination by the Ministry of Regional Municipalities in Al Dhahira, the chicken samples were found containing more bacteria than allowed in Oman.
The report said that the Authority held two representatives of the company, the name of which was not mentioned, responsible for distributing and selling contaminated chicken.
Their case was referred to the Public Prosecution and following investigation of the case, the case was referred to the court.
Al Omairi said consumers have the right to get correct information whenever they buy goods or services, for the sake of their health and safety.
He called on consumers to report any such cases, which constitute a grave offence and contravene the rights of consumers as specified by law.
The Consumer Protection Law was approved by Royal Decree in November 2014. Anyone who sells contamined food items risks a jail sentence between three months and three years and a fine ranging from 2,000 to 50,000 Omani rials.