An Act Prohibiting Business Establishments from Giving Insufficient or No Change to Consumers and Providing Penalties Therefor

Sixteenth Congress
Third Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, two thousand fifteen.

REPUBLIC ACT No. 10909

An Act Prohibiting Business Establishments from Giving Insufficient or No Change to Consumers and Providing Penalties Therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "No Shortchanging Act of 2016".

Section 2. Declaration of Policy - It is the policy of the State to protect the interest and promote the general welfare of the consumer as well as establish standards of conduct for business and industry. Towards this end, the State shall implement measures to achieve the following objectives:

Section 3. Definition of Terms. - For the purpose of this Act, the following terms shall mean:

Section 4. Regulated Acts. - It shall be the duty of the business establishment to give the exact change to the consumer without waiting for the consumer to ask for the same.

Section 5. Procedures in Filing a Complaint -

Section 6. Penalties. - Any violation of this Act as determined by the DTI under Section 5 hereof shall be punished as follows: for the first offense, a violator shall be fined five hundred pesos (₱500.00) or three percent (3%) of the gross sales of the business establishment on the day of the violation, whichever is higher; for the second offense, a violator shall be fined five thousand pesos (₱5,000.00) or five percent (5%) of the gross sales of the business establishment on the day of the violation, whichever is higher; for the third offense, a violator shall be fined fifteen thousand pesos (₱15,000.00) or seven percent (7%) of the gross sales of the business establishment on the day of the violation, whichever is higher, and the license to operate of the business establishment shall be suspended for three (3) months; and for the fourth offense, a violator shall be fined twenty-five thousand pesos (₱25,000.00) or ten percent (10%) of the gross sales of the business establishment on the day of the violation, whichever is higher, and the license to operate of the business establishment shall be revoked.

In addition to the amount of the fine mentioned above, the total amount of change the establishment failed or refused to give, as determined from the audit of the DTI, shall be paid by the said establishment to the complainant.

Section 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The DTI, in consultation with the appropriate stakeholders and other government agencies, shall, within one hundred twenty (120) days from the effectivity of this Act, promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to effectively implement the provisions of this Act.

Section 8. Information Campaign. - The DTI shall undertake to implement an education campaign to inform consumers of the provisions of this Act. It shall regularly publish a list of the establishments found to have violated any provision of this Act.

Section 9. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any part or provision of this Act is declared invalid, such declaration shall not affect the other provisions of this Act.

Section 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

Section 11. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

FELICIANO BELMONTE, JR.
Speaker of the House of Representatives

FRANKLIN M. DRILON
President of the Senate

This Act which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 1618 and House Bill No. 4730 was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on May 23, 2016 and June 6, 2016, respectively.

MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
Secretary General
House of Representatives

OSCAR G. YABES
Secretary of the Senate

Approved: July 21, 2016

(Sgd.) BENIGNO S. AQUINO, III
President of the Philippines