1Ministry of Domestic
Trade and Consumerism are to enforce nine acts consist of Price Control Act
1946, Control of Supplies Act 1961, Hire Purchase Act 1967, Weights and
Measures Act 1972, Trade Descriptions Act 1972, Copyright Act 1987, Direct
Sales Act 1993, Consumer Protection Act 1999 and Optical Discs Labeling Act
2000. In addition there are ancillary tasks required such as Counter Station,
supervision and monitoring of Perai
Port as well as inspection
program of nanotag for diesel.
1Counter station
I begin my tasks at
the counter at 8.00 am. As a counter officer, I am required to monitor the
present of the entire officer for the respective day by checking the punch
card. Besides that, I am responsible in handling all complaints from the
walk-in customer as for example, petroleum licensing, price tag, piracy cds,
all fraud involving consumer case, get rich quick scheme, expired date stamping
for the weighing tools, fakes services and other types relevant to the
consumerism matters. In addition, I am also responsible for the Consumer Claim
Tribunal whereas all the process for the complaint is done by me. The counter
closed at 5.00 pm on working days.
1Static Operation at Perai Port.
1I begin my task at
7.00 pm together with another officer. A total of two officers in place at the
port at one time. The main function for stationing the officers is to ensure
the port is monitored and supervised for any type of legal activities taking
place. Legal activities means any controlled item or controlled goods is downloaded
to the ship by the permission of the officer in charge. Usually, my job is to
check the invoice for delivery. If the transaction is illegal then I am ordered
to investigate to prevent any smuggling or fraudulent delivery. Besides that, I
am also involved in running a random chemical test for diesel in a process we
call checking the nanotag “mark” of MTK-02 chemical present for petroleum
liquid. If the chemical do present, then I am ordered to further investigation
into the matters. The job ended at 12.00 pm.
1Inspection program of
nanotag for diesel
1Misuse and smuggling
of diesel oil resulted in huge losses to the government over recent years. As a
result, the government has introduced a marking program on diesel fuel from
April 2006. Core chemicals Sdn Bhd have been appointed to running a chemical
test for especially diesel oil. I am accompany by the Core chemicals Sdn Bhd
officers during taking sampling of diesel oils. The duty for inspection and
tested sampling done by the core chemicals officers. The task starts at 8.00
am. The selected premises for routine test are factories for various of business.
If the result of testing is positive which mean the chemical for marking the subsidized
diesel present, then I am ordered to investigate the situation and might taking
action under the Supply and Control act 1961. The duty ended at 5.00 pm.
2I
worked with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and consumerism as Assistant
Enforcement officer. My job requested me to report all my responsibilities to
Head of branch Enforcement Officer everyday. Besides writing reports for daily,
weekly and monthly, I am also involved in scheduled operation or ad hoc
operation by the branch office. As an enforcement officer, I am tied to the law
based on acts that have been enacted under the ministry. At the same time, I am
also monitoring and supervising enforcement officer designated under me.
2For
the time being, I am responsible for the act namely, Supply Control Act 1961,
Hire Purchase Act 1967 and Weight and Measures Act 1972. In other words, I am
responsible to take action against all offences under those acts by conducting
an investigation to gather evident, and assist the prosecutor to charge them in
court later on.
2Supply Control Act 1961
2Supply
control Act 1961 passed by parliament in 1961 and came into enforcement in
Peninsular Malaysia on July 1, 1963. As a matter of fact, Sabah and Sarawak, the act came into enforcement on March 5, 1964.
The objective of this act is to supervise the supply for controlled items. What
is controlled item? Control item is actually household used such as sugar,
flour, cooking oil and several more items which government take note only
during festive period in Malaysia.
Nevertheless, why government needs to control the items stated above? This is
to ensure no misused or any kind of offence affecting the supply in the
country; to stabilize the quantity of controlled item in the market and protect
the consumer by the supply and demand structure. Types of offence can be found
as possession of controlled item without license, failing to display license,
excessive stocks, in possession of controlled item not at the supposedly
location in the license and failed to update stock books. The fines are in
accordance with section 22 (1) Supply control Act 1961. For the individual
offence, for the first time, fine of not more than RM100,000 or imprisonment
not exceeding three years or both; and fines of not more than RM250,000 or
jailed not more than 5 years or to both; for second time and subsequent offenses.
while for the company or Corporation, a fine of not more than RM250,000 for
first offense, a fine of not more than RM500,000 for second and subsequent
offenses.
2Hire purchase Act 1967
2Hire
purchase Act 1967 enforced to control the selling and renting nature and
content agreement, the rights and responsibilities of all parties involving the
lenders and the finance companies, making other provisions related or
'incidental'. This Act covers both new and used vehicle. Common offenses
committed are conducting a full loans, taking deposits of more than 1% before
the loan is approved, no deposits, failed Puspakom tests, application forms are
incomplete or empty, and failed to return the deposit if the pre-application
fails. The fines are in accordance with section 46 Hire purchase Act 1967, for
the individual case, fine of not more than RM25,000 or imprisonment not
exceeding three years or both; for the first offense and fines of not more than
RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both; for second and
subsequent offenses. However for the company or corporation case, a fine of not
more than RM100,000 for first offense, a fine of not more than RM250,000 for
second and subsequent offenses.
2Weights and Measures Act 1972
2Weights
and Measures Act 1972 were gazetted on 30 March 1972 and became effective on
January 1, 1981. The Government has given a 10-year transition period to allow
all parties involved to make adjustments and changes to fully understand this
Act. This Act enforced to ensure only the units of measurement in the
International System of Units (SI) or metric units are currently in use in the
country, to ensure all weighing and measuring instruments used for commercial
purposes to meet specifications set by the government, verified tools, the
measurement tools have been verified by the Verification Officer by stamping,
and regulating all manufacturers, repairers and sellers of equipment through
the licensing. Common offenses are no stamping from the authority party,
modifying the weighing and measuring tools illegally and expired stamping. The
selected fines include under Section 28 (2) Weights and Measures Act 1972; A
fine of RM1,000 or 6 months imprisonment or both for weighing and measuring
errors with no verification or stamping and Under Section 20A (1) (c) Weights
and Measures Act 1972: A fine of RM4,000 or 3 years imprisonment or both on
offense of modify the authentication mark.
2In
conclusion, my job responsibility is to ensure the law is followed accordingly,
the penalties is imposed to those who break the law and holds the trust given
by my employer to myself to protect the consumer. In addition, to educate
consumer the content of the respective acts to provide good understanding and
awareness among them.
3My
name is Suriana Isa and I am the third writer. I will explain three (3) from
nine acts (9) that is enforced by enforcement division. Act that I can share
here is Consumer Protection Act 1999, Direct Sales Act 1993 and Trade
Descriptions Act 1972. All these three acts are equally essential in protecting
consumer from irresponsible traders or business entities. I will explain
further on that these acts by dividing it into three different paragraphs.
3Consumer Protection Act 1999
3Consumer
Protection Act 1999 is an act that holds allocation for consumer protection, Council
of National Advisor for Consumer, Small Claims Tribunal and for other matters
on consumer protection. This act will be used in the event of price perplexity.
As for example, when users buy any product that has different price tag
labelled at the rack and labelled on the product. Such state can be invoke an
action under Section 12(1) (a) under Consumer Protection Act 1999 namely on
offence of misleading price. The action will be to confiscate the product to
carry out further investigation and the shop owner of the premis can be
compounded or fined if convicted.
3What is Direct Sales Act 1993
3What
is Direct Sales Act? This act is an act to monitor and promote healthy direct
selling business development. It was enforced in 1993 and was aimed to licensing
direct selling business and controls the industry including matters related to
it. It was also put in place to deter from unhealthy and unethical modus
operandi such as collecting deposit without producing product, inferior product
or selling products that are health hazards, promoting pyramid or quick rich
scheme. Direct selling under Malaysian Law will have the meaning as promoting a
product or service by means of ‘door to door’ or/and by 'postal order' or
making phone calls. Sales by ‘door to door’ means meeting people that are
prepared to do contract as buyer for products or services at their place or
appointed place of meeting. Direct selling industry is mushrooming quickly and
is one of the fastest growing business models in Malaysia. Its success in providing
business opportunity or as an additional income to Malaysians cannot be denied.
Nevertheless, it must be controlled from turning to become an opportunity to
reap profit through illegal methods such as pyramid schemes or any schemes that
are unethical. Furthermore, it is also important in educating consumers on how
to use their rights and making wise decisions before engaging in any contract
or agreeing to buy. As in conclusion, Direct Sales Act 1993 was enforced to
protect consumer rights and to monitoring the development of the industry in Malaysia.
3Trade Description Act 1972
3Trade
Description Act 1972 was an act to consolidate the laws that will provide
provisions prohibiting miss description of goods and miss description of prices
in course of trade. It was also enforced to protect business entities that
carry their own trademark or trade description that is used as a brand in
business. Among the example of these trademarks are Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Pepsi, Coach,
Luis Vitton and other brands. The intent is to protect Malaysia’s competition edge in attracting
foreign direct investment into Malaysia
by offering protection to their brands from counterfeit products and
services. This act also controls ‘cheap
sale’ or any sale that indicated price slash with intend to promote fair and
transparent sale. It is paramount to tourism industry to have a genuine product
for sale in order to attract visitors and same impact on Malaysians to have a
genuine bargain for their money. Random inspection will be conducted at
premises offering cheap sale. If random inspection founded out that said dealer
failed to display cheap sale notice, action will be taken on said dealer under Rules
3(1) Trade Description
Order (Cheap Sale Price) 1997
namely because of failure to give a notice to Controller before promoting a
sale.
4I worked with the
Ministry of Domestic Trade and consumerism for the Seberang Perai Tengah branch
at enforcement division as enforcement officer. I have been in this position
for five years. My prime task is to enforce nine acts under the domestic trade
ministry. Among those are Price Control Act 1946, Optical Disc Act 2000 and
Copyrights Act 1987. Under those act, by jurisdiction of law, I am appointed as
Controller Assistant which is included the investigation and raiding officer.
Sometime, operation leads by raiding officer. As a raiding officer, the main
task are to plan the operation in order to gain success by ensuring precise
information, team member participation, logistic and time management. This is
because without the proper preparation, operation would not be able to be
executed successfully. Usually, the information comes from the public sources
or internal resources by intelligent unit. The source of information is very
important so that no time wasting and money if the operation is unsuccessful.
4Planning is important
for operation because good plan will resulted in success while bad plan will
causing the government a massive lost in terms of money and time consuming.
Planning should be discussed during short briefing with all the team members playing
the role of photographer, drawing artist, exhibits monitoring, driver and
vehicles. The member selected for the respective task will ensure the role is
to be comply. After everything is in order, the next step was to locate the
target for the operation. The target area should be wisely stationed by the
team members surround the area. Furthermore, the lead officer will determine
the status of the target. If the time is right, the team will react instantly
and directed to the possible crime scene after receiving the signal from the
team leader. First foremost is to show the authority card upon raiding and
explain the reason of the operation to the suspect. A thorough check up will be
conducted and the subject matter of the case should be found in order to
charged the suspect later on. If the case exist and subject matter of the case
is found within the target premis, the raid officer will produced a check up
form and sealed form to the person in charge at the target location for
acknowledment of raiding taking place. The selected officer will conduct
further investigation by taking photo, counting and checking the exhibits,
drawing a location plan and so on. After all the procedure is done, a copy of
both forms will be given to the suspect and a police report is to be lodge.
4Exhibit would be kept
at the store. In addition, after the filecase is ready, only then the exhibits
shall be passed up to the investigation officer for further clarification and
investigation.
4But sometimes, the
plan of operation failed because of certain reason. Namely, tonto's who is
monitoring the enforcement officer while conducting their duty. Tonto's is
actually the "informer" for the crime suspect. They will be notified
or seen at the specific location or hotspot where they can inform their partner
in crime about the present of enforcement officer.
4Enforcement job is
very challenging as compared to others job but this duty requires to stand by
mentally and phisically anytime needed if operation is going to be conducted at
anytime within 24 hours a day.
4Price Control Act 1946
4Price control act was
firstly introduced in the year 1946 through the no.26 ordinance at the same
year. The main objective of this act is to control the price of goods. The
control means associated with the controlled articles defined in the acts to
ensure the consumer will not be pressed for higher price set by the seller of
goods. Control price is always taking place during festive season because this
is the selected time where demands are higher than supplies. Seller always
takes advantage to gain higher profit during the festivals. The act can help
government stabilized the price and force the seller to follow the law stated
under the act and control the supply of goods in the market. Common offence such
as price tag absent, failed to display price tag label on the goods and also
selling exceeds the maximum price list. For this offence, fine of not more than
RM15,000 or imprisonment not exceeds two years or both for individual for the
first offense; a fine of not more than RM25,000 or imprisonment not exceeding
five years or both for the second offense. However for the company or
corporation a fine of not more than RM25,000 for first offense, a fine of not
more than RM50,000 for second and subsequent offenses.
4The Optical Disk Labelling Act 2000
4The optical disk labelling
act passed the parliament in 2000 through act 606. This act was specially come
into enforcement of licensing and controlled-monitored factories producing the
optical disk. The main reason was to disallowed factories from producing illegal
copies of optical disk. Usually, the disk produce would have a signature of the
factory in terms of serial number and unique identification of material used.
This is procedures used by the entire factory before producing any optical disk
in order for controlled reason by the enforcement division. Common offence is
no license and using fake identication. For this offence, fine of not more than
RM500,000 for the first offense; a fine of not more than RM1,000,000 for the
second offense.
4The Copyrights Act 1987
4The copyrights act
enacted in 1987 after obtaining the consent of The King on the advice of the people of the Hall and of the Senate. The
main purpose of this act is to protect the copyright owner of Exclusive Rights
of the Creator to protect paper-specific work with reproduction and use of the
work. Among the works that are protected under this act is the work of
literature, music of art, film and soundtrack works. This act is synonymous
with piracy. It is important because it can encourage investment and increase income
for our country by protecting copyright holders mostly comes from abroad.
Common offence is under Section 41(1)(b) is to owned other than a domestic or
private use and Section 41(1)(d) which is selling, renting, by exposing or
offering for sale or rent of any infringing copies. For an offense under this
act shall be a fine not exceeding RM10,000 for each infringing copy or
imprisoned not more than 5 years or both, and for the second offense may be a
fine not exceeding RM20,000 for each infringing copy or imprisoned not more
than 10 years, or both.
References :
Board of Law Research
(2010) Direct Sales Act 1993 ( Act 500 ) And
Regulations : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2010) Weights and Measures Act 1972 ( Act
71 ) Regulations and Order : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2006) Price Control Act 1946 ( Act 121 )
And Regulations : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2010) Hire Purchase Act 1967 ( Act 212 )
And Regulations : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2008) Optical Discs Act 2000 ( Act 606 )
And Regulations : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2009) Trade Description Act 1972 ( Act 87
) Regulations and Order : International
Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2008) Control of Supplies Act 1961 ( Act
122 ) Regulations and Order : International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2010) Copyrights Act 1987 ( Act 332 ) Regulations and Order :
International Law Book Services.
Board of Law Research
(2007) Consumer Protection Act 1999 ( Act
599 ) And Regulations : International Law Book Services.
