DTI offices in CL conduct surprise inspection of hardwares

• Source:https://punto.com.ph/dti-offices-in-cl-conduct-surprise-inspection-of-hardwares/
• Wednesday, July 10, 2019

(Press release)

Seven teams from the seven provincial and regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry conducted random surprise monitoring and enforcement of Product Standards laws in major cities and municipalities in Central Luzon on July 5, 2019. The surprise inspection was done simultaneously throughout the country through a directive from DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who also personally visited and inspected hardware stores and warehouses in Metro Manila.

For Central Luzon, a total of 33 hardware stores and warehouses were randomly inspected. Of the 33 establishments, seven (7) are in Aurora, three (3) in Bataan, six (6) in Bulacan, three (3) in Nueva Ecija, four (4) each in Pampanga and Tarlac and six (6) establishments were inspected in Zambales. The monitoring and enforcement teams checked the correctness and sufficiency of markings of construction materials such as steel bars and pipes, which are considered as mandatory products under the Standards Law of RA 4109. The teams also randomly weighed the steel bars to check if they are within the allowable standard weight for each size of steel bars. The bars were also checked through caliper measurement if their thickness is correct based on the markings of the bars.

Based on the report of the Consumer Protection Division of DTI-3, almost all of the establishments complied with Philippines Standards. Only one (1) of the 33 inspected establishments in the region was given a Notice of Violation for selling steel bars that are insufficient in weight based on the standard weight of the particular type of steel bar.

DTI-3 Judith P. Angeles continued to remind hardware store owners to check the compliance of the products they are selling to Philippine National Standards. She stressed the need to check if products have Philippine Standards (PS) mark or if the manufacturers have the appropriate PS license for local products and Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) mark. She also asked consumers to bring their consumer concerns through the Consumer Hotline 1-384 or visit and send a message to DTI’s Facebook platform using the handle DTI Philippines.