A pharmacy and its director were convicted today (October 16) at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts for possessing surgical masks to which a false trade description had been applied, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO), and were each fined $20,000. Over 67 000 surgical masks involved in the case with false manufacturing dates were also confiscated.

     Hong Kong Customs earlier received information alleging that a pharmacy in Mong Kok sold surgical masks with suspected false manufacturing dates. After investigation, Customs seized this January from the pharmacy the surgical masks that marked March 2020 as the manufacturing date.

     Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO. Under the TDO, any person who supplies goods with a false trade description in the course of trade or business, or is in possession of any goods for sale with a false trade description, commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

Ends/Friday, October 16, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:17

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