HONG KONG: Hong Kong Customs arrested on Tuesday two saleswomen of a medicine shop suspected to have engaged in unfair trade practice by applying a false trade description on a proprietary medicine. Customs officers conducted a test-buy operation at a medicine shop in To Kwa Wan, an area on the eastern shore of Kowloon peninsula, on Tuesday afternoon. Two saleswomen were suspected to have applied a false trade description on a brand of medicine by stating it was a particular brand of medicine. The two women, aged 43 and 42, were arrested for being in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Customs and Excise Department of the HKSAR government said. Investigation is ongoing and the arrested persons have been released on bail pending further investigation, it said.
The customs reminded traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure services at reputable shops. Under the TDO, any person who in the course of any trade or business applies a false trade description to any goods or services commits an offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 64,072 U.S. dollars) and imprisonment of five years.
