By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff Reporter
LAOAG CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry here has cautioned once again buyers of Christmas lights to properly observe products safety.
“We strongly advice the public to look for the Philippine Standard [PS] mark when purchasing Christmas lights to be assured of the product safety when used according to instructions,” said DTI acting provincial director Rosario Quodala.
In time for the celebration of the National Standards Week, the DTI monitoring and enforcement team is currently monitoring retailers of Christmas lights in this city and neighboring San Nicolas town to ensure they are compliant with the law.
“The retailers were also taught how to verify authenticity of ICC stickers using the latest application which can be downloaded from the Playstore of android phones,” she explained.
As of this posting, the DTI were able to confiscate more than a hundred Christmas lights which are substandard.
When buying Christmas lights, the DTI reiterated to consumers to look for the import commodity clearance (ICC) sticker and other important labels on the package of Christmas lights such as the name, address, trademark of the importer or the distributor of the product to easily track the distributor for possible complaints, rated voltage and rated wattage of the set; rated voltage and rated wattage of the lamp; the words 'For indoor use only'; the number of this standard (PNS 189:2000), and country of origin.
The ICC stickers can be found either on the wire or on the package of the Christmas lights.
The DTI also reminded that “consumers can request establishments to show their ICC certificates to validate if they are transacting with suppliers that are authorized by the DTI to sell safe sets of Christmas lights with the ICC mark.”
Manufacturers, importers and retailers found not complying with the BPS Product Certification Scheme will face administrative charges for violation of the DTI Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2:2007; Republic Act (RA) 7394, otherwise known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines; and RA 4109 or the Standards Law.