Trade agency halts sales of illegal BlackBerry

DENPASAR: The Bali Trade and Industry Agency has temporarily frozen the sale of unregistered BlackBerry mobile phones, warning vendors to register the phones before selling them.

Head of the agency's domestic trade monitoring division, Bagus Ketut Wijaya, said many illegal BlackBerry sets had been sold at mobile phone shops along Jl. Teuku Umar in downtown Denpasar.

He added these shops violated Trade Ministry regulation No. 574/ 2002 stipulating that all electronic goods sold in Indonesia must be accompanied by manuals written in the Indonesian language.

"Any electronic goods with manuals in Indonesian means that they have already been registered with the ministry or trade agency," said Wijaya.

Shop owners who sell illegal goods face a maximum of five years' imprisonment and a Rp 5 million (US$484) fine.

Wijaya said his office had decided to focus on the illegal sale of BlackBerry phones following reports in the media that customers were unable to test the phones they intended to purchase. - JP