Officials from the General Directorate of Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression (CCF) cracked down on 56 illegal businesses across the country in July and handed out the first anti-money laundering fines.
CCF director-general Phan Oun told The Post on August 2 that operations to punish violators began with the implementation of the Consumer Protection Law, especially after the inter-ministerial Prakas on fines for lawbreakers.
He said CCF officials went to suspected establishments to investigate any illegal activity related to goods and services they offered.
“In July, CCF investigators, who were recently appointed as judicial police, tackled 56 crimes. Most were related to dishonesty in the fuel business, counterfeit goods such as sanitisers, expired goods, and non-compliant labels,” he said.
Oun said that fining violators of the consumer law faced challenges during the first month.
“As the Covid-19 situation in Cambodia has not eased, monitoring and investigative work to identify crimes has faced hurdles. In addition, the consumer law is new and vendors still do not fully understand it,” he said.
The Consumer Protection Law promulgated in November 2019 aims at ensuring honest business practices and fair competition.
The law states that business owners, producers, traders and merchants who violate the law face penalties, such as fines and imprisonment.