33 law violating businesses shut down in effort to secure rights of consumers

Thirty-three violating businesses were closed down this year as authorities step up efforts to ensure consumer protection and curb unfair competition. When compared to last year, a three-fold increase was noted this year in the number of businesses that were closed down by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism for violating consumer rights and other violations. According to the ministry, 33 businesses were either permanently or temporarily closed down this year for violations, according to the latest statistics. The ministry confiscated 493 counterfeit commercial items and referred the cases to Public Prosecution.

Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed Al Zayani told Tribune that the ministry’s new inspection centre has been effective and successful in its crackdown on violating businesses. “Not all of the 33 were permanent closures, they vary, some are permanent while some short term, it depends on the violations. The violations include the running of the businesses without a CR, misleading pricing, selling expired items etc,” he pointed out.

“In terms of inspection, we had previously suffered because we had a small and fragmented inspection team. The small workforce did not allow us to do a comprehensive job. We set up a central inspection team and we expanded the manpower within that team. “We ended up having 50 inspectors cross-trained to do all the inspection that the ministry does. We have taken a clear stance that we will enforce the law. We will not tolerate people who have tried to break the law or cheat consumers. “We have shut down 33 businesses which have violated the law plus 106 were referred to the public prosecutor. We do this because we want a clean business environment and we want to have as much consumer protection as possible.