The owner of an unnamed retail shop was convicted Wednesday at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts and fined $15,000 for supplying unsafe facial whitening cream.
The court ruled the retailer contravened the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance and was also ordered to pay the testing costs of $480.
A Customs officer had earlier disguised as a customer to test buy from the retail shop a cosmetic set, “Yunxi New skin whitening 4 in 1 Suit”, for a safety test by the Government Laboratory. The “New skin whitening Night Cream” and “New skin whitening Pearl Cream” contained in the set were found to contain mercury content of 16,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) and 9200 mg/kg respectively.
Under the ordinance, it is an offence to supply, manufacture or import into Hong Kong consumer goods unless the goods comply with the general safety requirements for consumer goods.
Consumers have been asked to report unsafe consumer goods, by calling the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.
Hong Kong retailer fined for selling whitening cream
