“The numbers are going up in the lawsuits that the AG’s office are filing as we receive complaints from consumers and as our investigator goes around doing random checks in the stores,” CNMI Attorney General’s Office consumer counsel Mike Ernest told the Variety yesterday.
The violations included selling expired items without segregating them from the new merchandise and without marking them as expired, items sold at prices higher than their advertised price, and selling items without price tags.
Last February, Ernest spoke before the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and stated that the AGO would crack down on stores not following the consumer protection law.
The CNMI is the only jurisdiction in the United States that allows expired items to be sold in stores.
But store owners must separate the expired items from the new merchandise, put signs and markings in a conspicuous place.
Moreover, the expired items must be sold at no more than half the original price.
Ernest hopes the numbers of lawsuits being filed would send a message to the store owners that the AGO serious in its campaign to protect consumers.
“We have the interest of consumers in mind. We are going to enforce the laws and prosecute violators,” Ernest said.
But he also wants to make it clear that the AGO is not here to punish the store owners but to see to it that they follow the regulations.
The lawsuits filed and those that are about to be filed involved stores on Saipan. There are already customer complaints from Tinian but no lawsuits have been filed yet. The AGO has received no consumer complaints from Rota.
Ernest said they will send an investigator to Tinian to monitor the stores and to train a police officer or a government employee to do the monitoring.
Challenges
Ernest said one of the biggest hurdles they encounter before there was an investigator was the lack of witnesses.
“We always receive customer complaints but the ones who call to complain are not always willing to testify and that makes it hard for us to file a case,” he said.
With a full-time investigator, Ernest said monitoring the stores has been made a lot easier but the AGO is still urging the community to cooperate.
“Consumer complaints are important to strengthen our campaign for consumer protection, so we urge the community to call us,” Ernest said.
The investigator responds to consumer complaints and conducts random investigations in stores.
Before, the AGO received an average of at least two consumer protection complaint issues each week issues but none of the complaints reached the trial court. It is a different story now.
Ernest said so far, the stores have been very cooperative.
He said they started monitoring the bigger stores on Saipan first because they have more customers.
The AGO wants to provide a form for police officers or government employees, as well as the public so they can fill it out if they see violations against consumer protection in any store, Ernest said.
He is open to any invitation so he discuss the CNMI Consumer Protection Act and what the AGO is doing to enforce it.
“I am willing to talk to any of the groups and associations on island,” he said.
Penalties
The penalty for selling expired items as new could range from a fine of $2,500 and jail term of up to six month, or both.
For example, a store owner found selling 10 cans of expired milk for five days could be fined for each can and for each day the expired products were displayed.
For consumer complaints or any consumer protection issues, the public can call the consumer counsel at 664-2333.
//
