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TAWAU: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) takes seriously the issue of the sale of suspected fake products or goods, including lubricating oil, in the district.

Tawau KPDN Chief Enforcement Officer Sam Aminudin said they will not tolerate to take strict action according to the law.

“Although we have not received any complaints regarding the sale of counterfeit goods in the district, we will continue to conduct intelligence on business premises, including gas stations,” he said.

He called for cooperation of the product holders to provide related information to enable further action to be taken and to protect the rights of consumers.

“Traders or individuals found to be involved in selling counterfeit goods face investigation and action under the Consumer Protection Act 1999, the Trade Description Act 2011, the Trademark Act 2019 and the Trade Description Order,” he said.

“The acts are to protect consumers because they do not want parties to make false or misleading representations in terms of the type, standard, grade, quality, style or specific model of a product,” he said at the “Identify Fakes, Ensure Authenticity, Protect Quality” event, organised by Shell Malaysia in collaboration with Teck Guan Trading Sdn Bhd, here, Tuesday. 

Also present were Shell Malaysia Managing Director Shairan Huzaini Husain and Teck Guan Group Executive Deputy Chairman Datuk Hong Kim Fah.

Sam said one of the reasons why traders sell low-quality or fake goods is because they want to make more profit, not thinking about the problems, or misfortunes and safety risks that buyers would face when using the products.

He said consumers have the right to get authentic, quality and safe goods and services.

For offences under Section 25 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999, he said traders can be fined up to RM250,000 for organisations and RM100,000 for individuals and three years in prison.

As for counterfeit lubricating oil products, he said KPDN and the Malaysian Industrial Standards and Research Institute (Sirim) have proposed the “Genuine Product Certification Scheme”, which is a certification and reference standard. 

Shairan said the issue of selling artificial lubricating oil is worrying because it can have a negative impact on the reputation, brand and business owner, and even dangerous for consumers.

According to him, the results of laboratory tests on product samples sold on e-commerce platforms and also retailers who claim to sell genuine Shell lubricating oil products, found that 20 of the 105 bottles sold were counterfeit.

Therefore, he appreciated the enforcement authorities and business owners for paying serious attention to the issue to help combat the manufacturing and distribution of fake lubricating oil.

“Shell Malaysia will also continue to educate consumers on how to distinguish genuine Shell lubricants and will curb counterfeit products sold in illegal channels,” he added.