A chain supermarket was convicted and fined $5,500 today (September 14) at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts for supplying short-weight fruit, in contravention of the Weights and Measures Ordinance (WMO).
Customs officers earlier conducted a test-buy operation at a supermarket in Sham Shui Po and bought a pack of pre-packed red grapes with a declared net weight of 914 grams.
Upon examination by the Government Laboratory, it was confirmed that the red grape pack was short in weight by 72.1 grams.
Customs officers then conducted an operation against the supermarket and seized 29 packs of pre-packed red grapes with declared net weight ranging from 766 to 984 grams.
Examination by the Government Laboratory revealed that the red grape packs were short in weight ranging from 57 to 96.6 grams.
Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the WMO. Under the WMO, any person who in the course of trade supplies goods to another person by weight or measure should supply the goods in net weight or net measure. Any shortage of the quantity purporting to be supplied is an offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of $10,000.
Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the WMO to the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Friday, September 14, 2018