The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) intensified its campaign against uncertified products in 2023, resulting to significant number of apprehensions and penalties for non-compliant businesses.
The FTEB conducted extensive monitoring activities across various channels. It has visited over 11,757 physical retail firms for compliance with product standards.
“These heightened measures ensure effective oversight of business operations and promote compliance with trade and industry laws,” said Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, adding that the crackdown protects consumers from potentially unsafe products and fosters a level playing field for compliant businesses.
Even in online marketplaces, dedicated online monitoring units (OMUs) tracked activity on 104,084 online businesses.
In addition, the DTI enforcement unit and the FTEB jointly monitored 3,718 firms for adherence to the Price Act.
Efforts to police the industries had the FTEB issue 1,012 show cause orders (SCOs) and 741 notices of violation (NOVs) to non-compliant businesses, while over 138,523 uncertified products with a total value of P43.6 million were seized.
The FTEB also filed administrative charges against 977 businesses, collecting P10.46 million in fines and penalties.
The FTEB has prioritized enforcing the Vape Law, after founding out a staggering 97 percent or about 55,260 out of 56,926 online and physical vape shops were non-compliant.
In a recent operation, FTEB seized P5.45 million worth of uncertified vape products in 2023.
FTEB upholds the legality of its operations based on Philippine laws, including the Consumer Act (RA No. 7394), the Price Act (RA No. 7581 as amended by RA No. 10623), and the Law on Products Standards (RA No. 4109).