Abu Dhabi DED seizes over 55,000 forged goods

The total number of field visits conducted by the Department of Commercial Protection at the Abu Dhabi Business Centre in 2014, to monitor violations of trademarks, reached 14,011, resulting in the registering of 184 violations and confiscation of 55,532 commercial goods of registered trademarks.

According to the Department of Commercial Protection’s annual 2014 report, the market value of the counterfeit goods confiscated by the Department of Brands and Commercial Agencies is Dh1,394,978, and the estimated cost of company losses is Dh28,577,184.

The report categorised confiscations of counterfeit goods as follows: 8,266 pieces of clothing, shoes and accessories, 5,606 cosmetics and skin care items, 31,427 electronic devices and telephones, 3,101 automobile spare parts, 529 tobacco items and food products and 33 intellectual property and publications items.

Mohammed Rashid Al-Rumaithi, Acting Chief Executive Officer for the Abu Dhabi Business Centre, asserted that Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, ADDED, seeks to follow up on and eliminate all wrong practices that may affect the performance of the business environment sector in Abu Dhabi, praising the role of played by the Department’s strategic partners in meeting the Department’s strategic objectives aimed to create a competitive business environment in Abu Dhabi.

He stated that some negative phenomena seen in the emirate have resulted from wrong practices by community members and business institution owners who have breached business laws and regulations in Abu Dhabi. Al-Rumaithi called on Abu Dahbi community members to respond to such phenomena through the immediate reporting of violations to concerned entities.

The report stated that the Department of Inspection and Monitoring performed 160,500 inspections in 2014 concerning business activities and customer and consumer complaints in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region, registering 6,376 violations of business laws and regulations.

According to the report, the Department of Commercial Protection at the Abu Dhabi Business Centre has conducted several inspection campaigns and field visits to combat hawkers, during which it registered 232 violations committed by individuals who were referred to the competent authorities to take all necessary punitive measures.

The total number of inspection campaigns conducted in 2014 was 20, including 18 conducted by the Department of Commercial Protection alone that included corner shops, electric tools stores, perfumes and phones and were based on complaints by consumers and trademark owners.

The Department of Commercial Protection also launched joint inspection campaigns with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority that targeted 138 phone stores practicing commercial fraud for commodities, in addition to joint campaigns executed by the Department of Brands and Commercial Agencies in Al Ain as well as other entities affiliated with gold stores.

The total number of complaints received by the Department of Commercial Protection at the Abu Dhabi Business Centre in 2014 reached 2,846. 1,628 complaints in Abu Dhabi, 1,187 in Al Ain and 11 in the Western Region.

With the aim of regulating the relationship between consumers and business owners in Abu Dhabi, the Department of Consumer Protection in coordination with the Department of Business Centres in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, held workshops to raise the awareness of business owners about the laws and regulations concerning consumer protection.

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