Manufacturers will face strict penalty, including jail term, for not printing the revised price on unsold and new products post the launch of Goods and Services Tax. Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told PTI that non-compliance of this will attract a fine of Rs 25,000 for first-time offenders while it will get doubled for the second timers. A fine of up to Rs 1 lakh and a jail term may be awarded to third-time offenders.
Earlier, the Centre had said that traders will be allowed to sell pre-GST stock with stickers mentioning the new maximum retail price till September 30. “We have told companies to reprint revised rates on unsold goods. Stickers of new MRP should be pasted so that consumers are aware of the change in rates after GST,” Paswan told PTI on Friday.
To bring in this change, the government on Friday amended the Legal Metrology Act, 2009. The step was taken after consumers complained of arbitrary taxes on MRP, reported Hindustan Times.
A day before the GST roll-out, the government had said that products sold on e-commerce websites and medical devices declared as drugs, such as stents, will have to compulsorily carry Maximum Retail Prices and other essential information on them from January 1, 2018.
The amended rules also prohibit dual MRPs from being printed on products, “unless allowed under any law”. The government stated that medical devices and products were being sold according to the paying ability of the customer, despite MRP marked on these products.
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