The Consumer Protection Committee (CPC) yesterday said that nine of 14 (64 percent) makes of non-wooden walking sticks failed a random inspection and four were mislabeled.
With an aging population, more senior citizens are likely to use walking sticks. The CPC inspected 14 types of non-wooden walking sticks sold at 11 hypermarkets and hardware stores in Taipei, Taichung and Chiayi.
Consumer ombudsman Chuang Huei-yuan (莊惠媛) said nine items did not meet the CNS15192 national standards — set by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection — for structure, size, skid-proof protection and weight-bearing capacity.
“The most serious problems with those that failed the inspection are a lack of skid-proofing or weight-bearing capacity,” senior consumer ombudsman Wang Te-ming (王德明) said.
Bureau section chief Chen Rong-fu (陳榮富) said “the length of walking sticks can be adjusted, but each interval should not be more than 25mm,” and the handle must be able to bear sufficient weight without breaking so people using them do not fall when they put their weight on them.
“The CPC has asked the companies to improve their unqualified products within a given time frame,” Wang said. “A fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$1.5 million (US$1844 and US$46,090) is to be imposed if they do not improve their product before the deadline, and manufacturers can be fined again until the product is improved.”
Chuang also said four items were mislabeled, including having no information about their manufacturing date, country of origin, manufacturing company, material used or measurements, and these products will incur fines of between NT$20,000 and NT$200,000 if they do not improve within a given time.
Chen said that consumers should not think that a higher price means higher quality, because the most expensive item among the inspected products failed the inspection.
The failure rate of handles was the highest, Chen added.
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