Expat workers arrested in Oman for wrongful trade practices

Muscat: The Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) has arrested expat workers who used old wooden waste to make furniture. They have been fined OMR400.

The PACP Directorate in North Al Batinah arrested these workers who would manufacture and upholster furniture at a farm in Sohar, passing it off as being made in two furniture manufacturing workshops. The old, unhealthy materials would then be sold to customers.

In a statement, the PACP said, "The two workshops work separately to use materials such as wood and sponges in an unsanitary work environment located near animal pens. This leads to manufacture of products that lack health standards and harm the health of the consumer." They would collect used furniture from different places, a violation in itself of the Consumer Protection Law and then trade them in other ways.

"This is in violation of the Protection Law, and accordingly, an administrative fine was imposed on the two workshops of OMR200 each for a total of OMR 400," the PACP added.

"The Public Authority for Consumer Protection continues to monitor and control all the Sultanate’s markets, and it calls upon all to cooperate in reporting such practices in order to reach a healthy and safe market."