Violations of the Law on Consumer Protection can be fined up to 70 million VND
(Baonghean) - That is one of the notable contents of Decree 19/2012/ND-CP which was just issued by the Government on March 16 and took effect from May 1, 2012. The Decree stipulates the following main contents:
+ Scope of regulation: This Decree applies to intentional or unintentional acts of individuals, agencies and organizations that violate the provisions of law in the field of consumer rights protection that are not crimes and must be administratively handled according to regulations. Other administrative violations of consumer rights protection that are not regulated in this Decree shall be subject to the provisions of other Government decrees for sanctions in the relevant field of state management.
- Form and level of penalty: For each administrative violation, the violating organization or individual must be subject to one of the main forms of penalty, which is a warning or a fine (the minimum fine for administrative violations in the field of consumer rights protection is 500,000 VND and the maximum fine is 70 million VND). In addition to the main form of penalty, the violator may also be subject to one or more additional forms of penalty, such as: revocation of the right to use a license or practice certificate; confiscation of exhibits and means used to commit the administrative violation; forced application of remedial measures for each violation.
- Violations of the Law on Consumer Protection that are subject to penalties include: Violations of consumer information protection; misleading advertising to consumers; failure to provide or incorrect provision of information about goods and services to consumers (warnings about capabilities, instructions for use, warranty period, etc.); violations by third parties in providing information about goods and services to consumers; violations of contracts concluded with consumers according to the form and general transaction conditions; concluding contracts and general transaction conditions with consumers with invalid clauses; violations of contracts concluded remotely; violations of contracts for continuous provision of services, warranty of goods and violations of liability for defective goods, etc.
- The competent authorities to impose penalties are: Director of the Competition Management Department; Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels; market management forces from market controllers on duty to Heads of Market Management Sub-Departments; other forces include: Police, Border Guard, Coast Guard, Customs, Tax authorities, Specialized Inspectors and other agencies with the right to impose administrative penalties in the field of consumer rights protection according to the provisions of the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations.
If a violation is detected, the competent authority must promptly draw up a record (according to the form) and immediately send a copy to the violating organization or individual; If the record is drawn up by a person without the authority to impose a penalty or the case exceeds the authority, within 3 working days, the person drawing up the record must send the original record and all relevant documents and records to the person with the authority to impose a penalty.
Phuong Ha
