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Stiff penalty for violation of consumer rights Law

ABU DHABI - The UAE government will soon enact a law which would pave the way for the strongest possible action against businesses that are found violating consumer rights, said a top official.

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, has prepared a draft federal law pertaining to consumer protection, Shaikh Fahim bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Minister of Economy and Commercesaid on Tuesday, while attending the Federal National Council (FNC) session that debated the possibility of passing a resolution on consumer protection.

The minister stressed on the importance of passing such a law, noting that his ministry would establish a new department known as `Consumer Protection Department' to oversee businesses that violate consumer rights.

The proposal was raised by FNC member Dr Habeeb Mohammed Al Mulla who argued that there was a need to have resolutions that guarantee legal protection for consumers as well as trading institutions.

He suggested that the concept of consumer protection should be comprehensive and include various fields of social life like health, insurance, hospitality services and even mobile quiz programmes and other SMS services and not just restricted to trade fraud.

"Concrete and rapid steps should be taken to enact a law in the country on consumer protection," said Dr Al Mulla, pointing out that more than one third of the legislations adopted in most of the advanced countries.

"The ministry forwarded this month the draft bill to the Ministry of Justice Islamic Affairs and Auqaf for further deliberations," said Shaikh Fahim. He said the law would serve as an effective monitoring system in forming a higher committee.