Traders selling engine oil, gear oil, lubricants and grease must ensure every unit carries the required Government agreement number, the Consumer Affairs Authority has warned, saying legal action will follow where inspections find violations.
The warning was reported by the Daily Mirror at 9.31 a.m. on Wednesday.
What the rule requires
The requirement is not new. It sits in Direction No. 88, published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2327/36 of 12 April 2023 under Section 10(1) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act, No. 9 of 2003.
Under that direction:
- Lubricants and grease cannot be imported or manufactured except under a valid agreement entered into with the Government of Sri Lanka.
- Every unit stored, stocked, sold, packed, repacked for sale or displayed for sale must carry the number assigned to the relevant Government agreement.
- The number must be printed on the container, pack or wrapper, or shown on a label firmly attached to the product.
The Authority has emphasised that these labelling requirements apply to retailers as well as to importers and manufacturers — the point of the current warning, since a shopkeeper selling an unmarked pack is in breach whether or not they imported it.
What traders are told to do
The CAA advises traders to:
- Verify the Government agreement number before purchasing stocks
- Obtain details of suppliers, importers and manufacturers
- Retain purchase bills and invoices
- Check the labels of all lubricant and grease products offered for sale
The Authority says it conducts market inspections and special raids to check compliance, and that legal action will be taken against responsible parties where violations are identified after investigation.
Why the number exists
An agreement number ties a batch on a shelf to a specific importer or manufacturer that has contracted with the government. Its practical effect is traceability: a product carrying no number cannot be traced to an accountable party, which is the condition under which substandard or counterfeit lubricant reaches the market. Engine oil is a product whose failure is invisible at the point of sale and expensive afterwards, which is why the obligation is placed on the seller rather than on the buyer to check.
Not reported
The filing does not say what prompted this warning now — whether inspections found widespread non-compliance, whether complaints were received, or whether a particular brand or consignment is involved.
It gives no figures: no number of inspections or raids conducted, no prosecutions brought, no stocks seized, and no estimate of what share of the market is non-compliant. It does not state the penalties for a breach of Direction No. 88, or name the court in which action would be taken.
It does not say how a consumer can verify an agreement number, or whether the CAA publishes a register of valid agreements. It does not say whether the direction applies to imported branded products sold in original packaging.
On sourcing: this report rests on a single verified newsroom. The NewsFirst and EconomyNext rails carried no filing on the warning when this was written, and Ada Derana has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for 47 consecutive days. The gazette number, date and statutory section above are reproduced as published by the Daily Mirror; this desk has not independently retrieved the gazette.
