The Avissawella Magistrate’s Court has ordered the destruction of more than 8,500 bottles of drinking water seized from a company in Seethawaka over a counterfeit SLS standard mark and an unauthorised brand name, the Daily Mirror reported.
The case names the manufacturer for the first time. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) prosecuted D.T.S. International (Private) Company and its director, alleging the company made and distributed bottles carrying the SLS mark without holding the certification licence required from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI).
The CAA further alleged the company sold the water as “Aquachill” when the Ministry of Health had approved the name “Lanka Premium” for the product.
Guilty plea, Rs. 40,000 fine
The accused pleaded guilty when the case was taken up on 4 September. The court fined the company and its director Rs. 40,000 and ordered the entire stock produced as case material destroyed. The bottles were destroyed on the court premises.
The fine works out at under Rs. 5 per bottle across the seized stock.
The raid it follows
The stock was taken during a CAA raid on 21 August, when officers seized nearly 8,500 bottles bearing certificate number 894 in sizes from 500 millilitres to 19 litres. At the time the authority said the water had been produced at a facility in Amithirigala, Ruwanwella and stored at an Avissawella warehouse, and that the stock had not yet reached the market.
That earlier report named neither the manufacturer nor the warehouse operator, and announced no arrests — gaps this week’s court outcome fills. The Daily Mirror describes the company as being in Seethawaka, the divisional secretariat area that contains Avissawella, rather than at the Ruwanwella production site Ada Derana named in August; neither outlet reconciles the two.
What the CAA is asking of buyers
The authority urged consumers to check the brand name, manufacturing and expiry dates, and the authenticity of the SLS mark before buying bottled water, and said information on fraudulent trading can be given to its 1977 hotline during office hours.
The SLS mark on bottled water is not a marketing badge: it certifies the contents have been tested against a national standard, which is why a forged one is treated as a consumer-safety matter rather than a labelling error.
Update: Ada Derana confirms the fine and the bottle sizes
Ada Derana reported the same outcome later on Monday, attributing it to the Consumer Affairs Authority: a Rs. 40,000 fine on the company’s management at Avissawella Magistrate’s Court and an order to destroy more than 8,500 bottles, Ada Derana reported.
It set out the seized stock by container size — 19-litre, 5-litre, 1,500ml, 1,000ml and 500ml — confirming the range the August raid report gave, and said legal proceedings had been brought against both the company and its director. Ada Derana did not name the company, and placed it in Avissawella rather than Seethawaka.
Not reported
Neither outlet says whether the director was separately sentenced, whether the company’s operations have been halted, or whether the SLSI has acted against the misuse of certificate number 894 — a number issued to some legitimate holder.
