Ministry finds 78 consumer protection, price violations by outlets in April

A failure to display price tags on products and raising prices without approval from authorities topped the list of 78 violations of the consumer protection law, detected by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce last month.

The violations led to the closure of some erring outlets and fines ranging from QR5,000 and QR30,000, the ministry said.

The ministry intensified inspection campaign during the month to ensure compliance of retail outlets with Law No. 8 of 2008 on consumer protection.

The nation-wide drive resulted in 78 fines. Missing price tags topped the violations at 17, followed by raising prices without the approval of competent departments (eight) and false or misleading product description and advertising (eight).

Other violations included non-compliance with the price list of fruits and vegetables (seven), issuing incomplete bills (six), missing or incomplete product description (five), charging customers higher prices than advertised (five), launching promotions without obtaining prior approval of authorities (four) and not clearly displaying the price of services or products (three).

Violations also involved launching promotions without obtaining the approval of competent departments, selling expired and substandard products, failure to use Arabic in ads and description of goods and services, non-compliance with the declared price list before and during promotions, refraining from selling all or some discounted products, missing bills and failure to refund customers, return or exchange items.

The ministry also processed 769 complaints and shut down and fined a beauty centre in Al Mamoura for one week for displaying and selling expired cosmetics.

Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com