KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — The level of compliance with standard operating procedures (SOP) of the movement control order (MCO) in the retail and distribution sector is excellent at 98 per cent.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said out of 417,492 inspections carried out through enforcement operations between May 13 last year to March 9 this year, 408,988 premises were found to have complied with the SOP.
“That is why the number of Covid-19 clusters involving the business sector under the ministry’s purview, namely wholesale, retail and distribution, is very low, including barber services and eateries.
“The rate of non-compliance recorded is also low at less than 10,000 cases,” he said in a special virtual press conference yesterday.
During the period, he said only 7,746 premises were given advice, 589 were issued warnings and 169 were compounded during operations on the premises including supermarkets, restaurants and wet markets.
Nanta said a total of 37 SOP for retail and distribution sector activities were developed to enable traders to run their businesses during the conditional MCO (CMCO), enhanced MCO (EMCO) and recovery MCO (RMCO) in an effort to revive the country’s economy following the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the ministry’s other achievements over the past year, Nanta said control of the supply and price of face masks, hand sanitiser and disinfectant were among the main focus following the pandemic.
He said his ministry, among others, implemented a ban on their exports and gazetted the price of face masks at retail prices to address the shortage of supply as well as to prevent traders from raking excessive profits.
“At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a situation where it was difficult for consumers to get face masks and sellers and manufacturers of three-layer face masks were also exploiting the situation by increasing the price from RM0.80 to RM5.00 due to high demand and limited numbers of manufacturers.
“To resolve the critical shortage of face masks in the country at that time, the government decided to set the ceiling price of face masks at RM2.00 to stimulate imports as well as get supplies from abroad faster before lowering the price to RM1.50,” he said.
Apart from that, he said in the enforcement of the SOP during the MCO, his ministry tried to balance between protecting the rights of consumers while safeguarding the interests of traders.
“We adopt a friendly policy to all business communities and appreciate and understand the importance of industry players in maintaining a vibrant and active economic sector.
“We often engage with them because we want to understand the problems faced and help find solutions to each problem. I really appreciate the good relationship between KPDNHEP and industry players,” he said.
The minister added that agencies under his ministry such as the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), the Malaysia Competition Commission (Mycc) and the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) had also helped provide a conducive business environment.
— Bernama
