The executive director of the National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Pro Consumer), Eddy Alcántara, said that it will be this Wednesday when a decision on the extension of the deadline requested by more than a dozen grocery and merchant associations to relocate the bottles of water exposed to the sun.
“Tomorrow (today) we are going to analyze this issue, as soon as we see the consistency of your requests, of the letters that we have received, more than a dozen, we will analyze them, but the willpower what has Pro Consumer is eradicate definitively the practice,” he commented.
The official added: “If we see compelling reasons, the period would not be so long, furthermore, It would be a single and short period because the idea is that we comply with what we agree to and eradicate that practice, because the objective is to protect the health of all Dominicans.
Understand that 90 days was a sufficient period to comply with the regulations and acknowledged that some businesses have had difficulty covering the shelves because they have entered conflict are the town councils “for a matter of advertising“.
The official recalled that “organisms international organizations have drawn attention after the studies and surveys that have been carried out, not only in the Dominican Republic, and all countries are taking the measures relevant”.
“We are going to apply the most drastic measure which sets our standard for those who do not comply, who may be measures precautions such as withdrawal and seizure of the bottlesof the shelves or gondolas, pecuniary sanctions and until closure of the business according to severityto non-compliance and recidivism”.
Alcántara said that in the country there are more than 100 thousand shops that sell at retail and, 76% of them, offer water bottled In Santiago already 72% of filled have complied with the deadline that expires today, October 30, but in Saint Dominic only 48% have complied.
They hold the bottlers responsible
Meanwhile, Apolinar Leyba, president of the Association of Entrepreneurial Merchants of Santo Domingo Norte, stated that “the shelves are not of the filledare from the companies that sell the product of water bottled.”
He alleged that many filled They start as small businesses in a corner of a house and do not have interior space to store the bottlesso they Resort to using the sidewalks.
“We are looking for a material that is not harmful, that ultraviolet rays do not penetrate,” he highlighted.
For his part, Ricardo Rosario, president of the National Central of United Retailers, assured that “trusting in the good judgment of the director of Pro Consumer the truce that they are asking for is granted and, of course, exempt of blame to the filled that they are not responsible for that situation.
16 anniversary of Pro Consumer
Alcántara spoke during the celebration event on the 16th anniversary of Pro Consumer in which he gave details of the achievements achieved in his management that began in March 2021.
In it, the executive director reported that this institution has managed to recover more than two billion pesos in conciliation matters in favor of consumers who formalized claims in the last three years.
The largest amount of money recovered by the institution had to do with cases of claims in it real estate sector, mainly in the purchase of homes on plans, as well as in sales of household appliances and tourist Travel offers to different countries and local hotels.
During a presentation of his management, the lawyer explained that in that period 22,685 claims and 3,815 complaints for a total of 26,500 cases. Only so far this year, Pro Consumer has received 11 thousand claims.
Likewise, they have inspected 39,999 establishments in operational special and regular inspections and have been confiscated 35,622,944 products not suitable for human consumption, highlighting the medications and food like the two big items.
In that order, he maintained that Pro Consumer has suspended more than four thousand establishments commercialmany due to temporary closures and others permanently.
The head of the consumer protection entity also said that another achievement worth highlighting has been the significant reduction in advertising misleading to the detriment of consumers, “which was recurrent during high consumption seasons, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, Black Friday, Three Kings’ Day and others.”
Likewise, the realization of operational prior inspection and surveillance against marketing inadequate supply of inputs used to manufacture devil’s acid, highlighting that it was possible to reduce the costs to practically zero attacks or attacks on people, mainly women.
He also stressed that one of the crucial issues addressed by this administration has been to quickly and forcefully carry out the operational to combat the marketing of drinks adulterated alcoholicin which thousands of bottles and closed hundreds of shops and factories that clandestinely sold this product, “and this together with other government agencies that work permanently to eradicate this scourge.”
