Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 January, 2023 at 1:32 pm by Andre Camilleri
The Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) carried out 18,000 physical inspections during 2022, Minister for Inclusion Julia Farrugia Portelli told Parliament on Monday.
Farrugia Portelli was answering a parliamentary question asked by PL MP Randolph De Battista.
Statistics showed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a trend for more people to order online, “so we had and continue to be more vigilant,” she said.
In total, apart from the mentioned physical inspections, there were an additional 3,200 online inspections with some of those being related to objects which are not allowed in Malta.
70% of the physical inspections were carried out in retail shops, 20% in the open market whilst the remaining 10% were done on kiosks and vegetable stalls.
The minister noted that the majority of businesses are genuine and always show the prices as indicated by the law, however a total of 190 businesses have been found to be non-conformant.
She said that these have been fined accordingly, out of which four of them are going to have matters escalated.
