Vendors selling ready-to-eat snacks without Myanmar-language labels face imprisonment and fines

Myanmar’s junta-run Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA) announced on 20 July that it would prosecute vendors found selling ready-to-eat snacks without Myanmar-language labels, widening an ongoing market inspection drive under the country’s Consumer Protection Law. The notice covers eight categories of goods, with instant and ready-to-eat snacks singled out for lacking Myanmar-language ingredient and safety information. Under the Consumer Protection Law, products sold in Myanmar must disclose ingredients and health warnings in Myanmar language so buyers can identify possible allergens or health risks before eating them. Inspectors have been checking wholesale depots, retail markets and school snack stalls in regions and states across the country on a weekly and monthly basis, according to the notice. Vendors found selling unlabeled goods face up to two years in prison, a fine of up to 20 million kyat (approximately US$6,450 at black-market exchange rates), or both, under Section 73 of the Consumer Protection Law. Consumers who believe they have been harmed can file complaints through regional Consumer Information and Complaint Centers or the Consumer Call Center hotline, 1535. The labeling notice makes no mention of Myanmar’s broader economic conditions. The kyat trades at roughly 3,100 to the US dollar on the black market, and school snack stalls — one of the settings named for inspection — are typically small operations with thin profit margins. Myanmar has been ruled by the military since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a February 2021 coup, which triggered nationwide protests, a civil disobedience movement among civil servants, and an armed resistance that continues to contest large parts of the country. The announcement lands 11 days before junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s self-declared “100-Day Plan” reaches its 31 July deadline. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing — who was sworn in as president in April following an election that resistance leaders and rights groups have called neither free nor credible — announced the plan on 20 April, setting targets across five of the government’s 31 ministries, focused mainly on infrastructure, telecommunications, education, health and water projects, according to ISP-Myanmar, a Myanmar-focused policy institute. ISP-Myanmar said the administration is using the plan to appear as a legitimately elected government even as “economic pillars are crumbling” and fighting continues nationwide. Karen News separately reported that the plan’s parallel outreach to ethnic armed organizations for peace talks has produced no meaningful change despite the public overtures. The same 31 July deadline also covers the junta’s invitation for ethnic armed organizations and People’s Defense Forces to join peace talks or surrender — falling in the same week DOCA said its labeling inspections will continue. The post Vendors selling ready-to-eat snacks without Myanmar-language labels face imprisonment and fines appeared first on ENG.MIZZIMA.COM.