THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it hopes to accredit 10 vape companies by year’s end.

“A lot have been accredited. We hope that by the end of the year, we will have 9 to 10 companies that have registered and complied with the DTI,” Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina A. Roque said at a briefing last week.

“What we want to happen is for them to comply and register with us, just to make sure that these vape products meet the standards,” she added.

“For vapes, most of these are imported, but the ones who distribute them locally are Filipinos who buy them from other countries,” she said.

Ms. Roque also said that the DTI is also promoting the accreditation of small-scale contractors to help them get more clients for jobs that do not require big contractors.

“We have what we call the pakyaw (small-scale contractors). So let’s say I’m a plumber, and I want to be able to do some plumbing work because not everybody needs a big contractor. Sometimes people that live in a townhouse need a plumber, painter, or mason,” she said.

She said the small-scale contractors will only need to pay P500 to be accredited by the department.

“So when they get jobs, like simple jobs, they can show that they are accredited by DTI. So it’s easy for them also to get clients from this kind of program. It’s something that we also want to promote,” she added.

Asked about updates on the draft department administrative order aimed at setting the guidelines for the registration of online sellers of consumer products under mandatory certification, the DTI said that it has been positively received by the online platforms.

“The e-commerce platforms are supportive of this. We have been doing more frequent meetings with them to polish all of the details of the proposed department order,” Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau Director Regino D. Mallari, Jr. said.

“For the smaller sellers, the DTI can assist them in complying with the requirements. It is not actually designed against them because we will support them. We are looking at those who are probably cross-border traders that are unable to have their products certified here,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile