KUALA LUMPUR: More than 2,000 premises have been inspected by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry in operations following the 2 percentage point increase in the sales and service tax (SST) from 6% to 8%, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Fuziah Salleh said 2,239 premises have been inspected and 66 notices issued under Ops Kesan as of Monday (March 4) morning.
She said those with notices will have to justify their cost increases within a four-day period.
“If we find there really is an unreasonable price increase, we will give them another four days to justify it. The ministry also has the authority to find out how much is actually spent from their raw materials up to their produce,” she told Parliament on Monday.
Fuziah was responding to a supplementary question by Nurul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap) who asked about the latest developments on Ops Kesan.
Ops Kesan was launched by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry to assess the impact of the recent increase of the SST by two percentage points from 6% to 8%.
The operation is carried out under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011.
Separately, Fuziah said there were 5,904 cases where the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 were violated throughout 2023 and added that compounds from the offences meanwhile exceeded RM1.4 mil.
She was responding to a question by Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu) who asked about the number of traders who violated the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 throughout 2023 and whether the Act was still relevant.
To this, Fuziah said the Act is a mechanism to protect consumers from unethical traders.
She added that all traders will be monitored under the Act, including hotels, food festivals and also those operating at the coming Ramadan bazaars.
“If there are complaints, we will look into it and calculate their margins and their productions.
“We have the formula,” she said when responding to a supplementary question by Jalaluddin on whether the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 would be enforced towards hotels, restaurants, food festivals and Ramadan bazaars.
Source Agencies
