Companies violating consumer rights to be fined

The Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection (AFCCP) outlined results of their latest inspection on May 21 ....

The Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection (AFCCP) outlined results of their latest inspection on May 21.

Head of the authority B.Lkhagva who shared the results promised that AFCCP will hold every company that violates the rights of consumers accountable for their action.

‘CHILD-CONSUMER’ CAMPAIGN RESUMES

AFCCP is carrying out “Child-Consumer” campaign prior to International Children’s Day.

The campaign is targeted at providing consumer education to children, inspect services and products for children, hold workshops to support industries and companies producing and distributing products to children, and introduce related legislation to agencies across the country.

The campaign is being implemented within the scope of the National Program to Protect Consumer Rights.

KHAN BANK FINED NEARLY 500 MILLION MNT

Khan Bank was imposed with a fine of 493,387,520 MNT as new evidence finds breaches of the Law on Competition and Law on Conflicts, B.Lkhagva reported.

Following a public report, the authority reviewed operations of Khan Bank and found that the company was demanding its customers to renew their contracts as it had set new terms. If customers didn’t comply, the bank suspended their right to withdraw money from their own accounts.

Prior to the new terms, insurance companies, savings and credit cooperatives, non-banking financial institutions and pawnshops were required to have a minimum balance of 20,000 MNT in their account but didn’t have to pay account maintenance fee. Now, they are required to have a minimum balance of a million MNT with monthly account maintenance fee of 5,000 MNT, according to B.Lkhagva.

INSPECTORS WARN ABOUT FALSE PRODUCT CLAIMS

Through an inspection, AFCCP inspectors found that SakuraLifeMax LLC was spreading false information that four products of their importer company Alivemax cure cancer.

Concluding that this was a violation of the Law on Consumer Protection, AFCCP charged a penalty of five million MNT.

B.Lkhagva stated, “Our authority issued numerous warning to companies about making false or misleading claims in their marketing or giving a false impression of products. We also organized workshops on this topic. Yet, SakuraLifeMax and many media outlets are continuing to do this. If specific television broadcasters do not stop this action, we will hold them accountable in accordance with the law. ”

PETROL STATIONS INSPECTED

AFCCP sent inspectors to check whether petrol stations were filling tanks with less petrol than paid for following complaints on TV9’s Mongol Comment program.

From April 5 to 10, 10 petrol stations of eight companies were inspected. As the national seal on their AI-92 petrol tank was ripped, Monsuli Company was fined with five million MNT.

Inspectors are currently examining the quality of petrol at filling stations following reports of “fake” petrol.

PACKAGED FLOUR PRODUCTS FAIL TO MEET NET WEIGHT

B.Lkhagva stated that five to 25 kg bags of flours in some supermarkets fell short of their net weight on labels during a routine inspection around shops, markets and shopping centers in Ulaanbaatar on April 13.

AFCCP organized a meeting with operators of markets, shopping centers and shops and flour producers to instruct them to remove such breaches and gave related recommendations earlier this month.