Consumers should be aware\u2014and unscrupulous retailers are warned\u2014that it is illegal to engage in price gouging following a major disaster, according to a reminder from the Office of the Attorney General\u2019s consumer counsel.<\/p>\n
Typhoon Soudelor struck the Commonwealth on Aug. 2, 2015.<\/p>\n
The Consumer Protection Act makes it unlawful for businesses to engage in price gouging. Price gouging occurs when a business increases prices based solely on a shortage of goods caused by a natural disaster or any other emergency. The Office of the Attorney General will prosecute, both criminally and civilly, any business that engages in price gouging.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the governor has declared a price freeze pursuant to the Consumer Disaster Price Freeze Act. The prices for the following items have been declared frozen:<\/p>\n
1. Gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, natural gas, and all other chemical fuels, whether in gaseous, liquid, or solid form;<\/p>\n
2. All foods and foodstuffs, including water, bottled water, beverages, and ice;<\/p>\n
3. All clothing;<\/p>\n
4. Flashlights, lamps, lanterns, candles, light bulbs, and other means of illumination;<\/p>\n
5. Generators, cables, wires, electrical batteries of every sort, and similar equipment for the generation and\/or transmission of electrical power;<\/p>\n
6. All appliances used in the storage and\/or preparation of food, including, but not limited to, stoves, barbecue grilles, ovens, refrigerators, and coolers;<\/p>\n
7. Tools typically used for construction, ground clearing, or home repairs, whether electrically powered, chemically powered, or manual, including, but not limited to, saws, machetes, hammers, drills, shovels, rakes, and brooms.<\/p>\n
8. All bedding items, including pillows, futons and blankets.<\/p>\n
It is illegal for any person or business to raise the price of any of the above-listed items while a price freeze is in effect. A violation of the Consumer Disaster Price Freeze Act is punishable by a $10,000 fine and one month of imprisonment for each violation. Please contact the Office of the Attorney General at 237-7500 if you observe price gouging. If the phone is not being answered, then please leave a message describing the price gouging and the retailer responsible. Alternatively, call the Emergency Management Center at 237-8000. (Office of the Attorney General) Consumers should be aware\u2014and unscrupulous retailers are warned\u2014that it is illegal to engage in price…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2626,56,190,86],"class_list":["post-206980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-attorney-general","tag-business-3","tag-natural","tag-oag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"