23 August 2016 09:58 am
Sri Lanka’s consumer rights watchdog, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), will be enforcing plastic mineral water bottling standards starting from September 1, a statement from the Industry and Commerce Ministry, under which the CAA operates, said. According to Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, a number of bottled water manufacturers are using low-quality polymer/ polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, which affect the quality of the water in bottles.
“The CAA has detected that a number of brands are using low-quality polymer/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles,” said Bathiudeen. “They affect the quality of drinking water in them. In 2014 and 2015, the CAA detected a total of 26 brands with questionable bottle quality,” he added and gave the CAA the go-ahead to enforce the gazetted standards at earliest possible instance. The SLSI requirement was gazetted in 2015 Gazette Extraordinary 1918/18 dated June 11, 2015 but has not been strictly enforced up to now. The CAA does not examine the quality of water in PET bottles since their water quality is certified by the Health Ministry.