The Macao Customs detected a suspected case of a chain jewelry group selling counterfeit products. Among the 8 chaine stores of the jewelry group, 5 of them are ‘Certified Shops’. The Council has already frozen the entitlement of those shops to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem, and will decide whether to suspend the shops’ entitlement later when investigation is completed and verdict is made. Consumer Council indicates that the ‘Certified Shop’ mechanism consists of different measures, including the evaluation system, consumers’ complaints, and information from other departments, to ensure good sales practices and service quality of ‘Certified Shops’. The Council was informed by Macao Customs of a suspected case of selling counterfeit products by a chain jewelry group. 5 out of the 8 shops of the group belong to the ‘Certified Shop’ mechanism, and the Council has already retrieved the emblems from the shops right away. Once investigation is completed and verdict is made, the Council will follow up according to the ‘Certified Shops’ assessment mechanism, which states that ‘Certified Shops’ involving in any illegal administrative acts will be penalized - 10 points will be deducted from the annual assessment points and entitlement to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem will be suspended for six months for those involving in serious acts. Should it be a criminal offence, entitlement to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem will be suspended for 3 years. The Council indicates that continuous training and monitoring have been carried out in recent years to enhance the quality of the ‘Certified Shops’ team. Any behavior infringing the rights of consumers and the ‘Certified Shops’ team will not be tolerated. Consumers are also urged to report to the Council any behaviors on the market that infringe consumer rights. The Council states that one of the shops are found to have no ‘Certified Shop’ emblem at their shopfront, and 5 shops are involved in the current case.
