KUCHING: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) Sarawak has taken proactive action by monitoring and inspecting hamper sales throughout the state to ensure that the hampers are prepared in compliance with the set guidelines.
Hampers are popular during festive seasons, especially Chinese New Year.
“However, we do not want manufacturers, packagers and sellers to take the opportunity to pack hampers that contain low-quality goods and sell them at high prices.
“This situation is exacerbated as most of the hampers are gifts among relatives and friends, and the recipients usually do not make complaints,” said Sarawak KPDNHEP in a statement yesterday.
The ministry’s hamper sales guidelines issued since 1997 are aimed at standardising prices for each hamper.
“These guidelines are to ensure that there are price tags on the goods contained in the hamper while also ensuring that the goods in the hamper, especially food items, are safe and of good quality and not counterfeit goods,” they said.
Each hamper must contain:
- A list of items and their prices
- The cash price in ringgit must be displayed on each hamper by standardising the cost of the packaging and handling
- The name and address of the packager, manufacturer or seller must be affixed to the hamper
- The hamper cannot contain counterfeit goods and illegal items
- Goods packaged must be of good quality and the expiry date of the goods must be valid for six months from the date of sale
- It must be stated if there are non-halal items
The ministry emphasised that these guidelines must be adhered to by all packagers, manufacturers or sellers of hampers, and for hampers in prepared packages only.
They said action would be taken against any traders who commit and offence, under the following regulations:
- Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 — Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Tagging of Goods and Charges for Services) Order 2020; and Price Control (Labelling by Manufacturers, Importers, Producers or Wholesalers) Order 1980
- Trade Descriptions Act 2011 — Section 5, Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Halal) Order 2011, and Section 14
- Trademarks Act 2019 — Section 100
- Consumer Protection Act 1999 — Section 12
