MUMBAI: The
state metrology department on Friday registered offences against 90 beauty salons and spas located in malls, hotels and commercial plazas.
The establishments were either using, promoting or selling cosmetics that didn’t adhere to packaging guidelines. “Many beauty products had no details of manufacturer, customer-care numbers or contact data. Some did not even have the details of maximum retail price (MRP) and quantity.
In some cases, original MRP stickers had been removed and individual stickers were affixed,” said an official from the
state metrology department.
Officials from the metrology department have confiscated shampoos, conditioners, perfumes, moisturizers, creams, lotions and aroma oils.
“After our raids on beauty salon chains, we will initiate similar action against outlets in other parts of the metropolitan region. In south Mumbai, we found that even the bills of landing of imported goods were not verified and their MRP has been manipulated. We are going to alert the customs department,” said Amitabh Gupta, additional DG and controller of the legal metrology department.
A senior metrology official said the value of products confiscated is estimated to be around Rs 15 lakh.
“On some cream packages, importers’ addresses were not mentioned. The stickers that were fixed were not readable. On packets of salt polish and rose nectar, the MRP, taxes and email id was not mentioned,” said an official.
The state metrology department plans to take assistance from the customs department to crack down on importers breaching the packaging guidelines.
Four days after the goods and services tax (GST) came into effect, the state legal metrology department had investigated consumer grievances against retailers for loading GST over and above the maximum retail price (MRP) on packaged commodities.
Some stores and food joints had loaded the new tax in the absence of GST registration numbers. “This too amounted to a breach of the law. Retailers can’t sell products above the MRP,” said an official.