In a press statement on Saturday, the MEC stressed that it intensified its inspection campaign last month in order to ensure the compliance of suppliers (retail outlets) with Law No 8 of 2008 on consumer protection.
The campaign comes within the framework of the ministry’s efforts to monitor markets and commercial activity in order to crack down on price manipulation and protect consumer rights.
The violations detected during the nation-wide campaign, led and conducted by inspectors from the MEC, included missing price tags, failing to display all data pertaining to a product, failing to follow prices laid down in the vegetables and fruits bulletin, selling expired products, selling local and Arabic bread that is below weight specifications, launching promotions without obtaining the approval of the competent departments, lack of invoices, lack of invoices written in Arabic, missing product descriptions in Arabic, false or misleading product descriptions and charging consumers higher than the advertised prices.
The penalties included administrative closures as well as fines ranging from QR5,000 to QR30,000, in line with applicable provisions of the law, the ministry said.
The highest number of violations pertained to missing or incomplete product descriptions (20), followed by missing price tags (16) and expired products (8).
The MEC asserted that it would not tolerate any violation of the Consumer Protection Law and its regulations, and would intensify its inspection campaign to crack down on violations.
The ministry said it would refer those who violated laws and ministerial decrees to the competent authorities, who would - in turn - take appropriate action against the offenders in order to protect consumer rights.
The MEC has urged all consumers to report violations to the Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud department through the call centre: 16001, email: [email protected], Twitter: MEC_QATAR, Instagram: MEC_QATAR, and the ministry’s application on iPhone and Android devices: MEC_QATAR.
The MEC stressed that it intensified its inspection campaign last month in order to ensure the compliance of suppliers (retail outlets) with Law No 8 of 2008 on consumer protection.
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) detected 82 violations of the Consumer Protection Law in July and took necessary action against the offenders.
