Service charge notice must be displayed from May 1

All hotels and restaurants must display notices on service charge at their entrance door according to the format gazetted in the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Marking of Service Charge for Hotel and Restaurants) Order 2015 beginning May 1.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad told a media conference here today that the directive was gazetted after it was signed and approved by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek yesterday.

He said hotel and restaurant operators who imposed the service charge should display a notice which reads : "All prices or charges are subject to ... per cent service charge."

"The service charge notice should be displayed at the entrance or other discernible places in the premises and the phrase should be in the national language followed by a translation in any other language.

"The phrase should be either handwritten or printed in capital letters with the height of not less five centimetres. Hotel and restaurant operators who violate the order can be fined not exceeding RM100,000, if found guilty," he said.

Commenting on the second phase of 'Ops Catut' to weed out profiteering launched by the ministry after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1, he said a total of 152,129 premises had been checked, and out of the total, the ministry had taken action on 423 cases.