Ministry to focus on trading practices

Consumer protection officials raided mobile phone dealers in Abu Dhabi yesterday and caught most of them in violation of existing laws that ensure market discipline and security for users.

Law enforcers from the Ministry of Economy inspected scores of mobile phone shops in Defence Road and issued warning notices to most for failing to abide by consumer protection legislations.

“Most of them, if not all, are not complying with the laws issued by the Ministry of Economy to ensure protection for the consumer,” a ministry official said.

“They have been violating such rules for years but we have now served them with a warning. Next time, they will be punished,” she told Emirates Business.

Mobile phone dealers said they were rebuked by inspectors for failure to publicly declare prices of their goods and for printing slogans on  that the Ministry of Economy considered illegal.

“We have always printed the slogan that ‘items once sold can not be taken back or exchanged’, but they told us yesterday that this is wrong,” said Imad Hariri, a manager of a major mobile phone shop in Defence Road.

“They also ordered us to display price tags on all our products.”

Most of Abu Dhabi’s mobile phone dealers are in Defence Road, which is also one of the Middle East’s largest second-hand mobile phone dealing centres.

At least 150 shops are crammed on both sides of the one-kilometre stretch, where more than Dh10 million worth of mobile handsets are traded daily.

Strong domestic demand has sharply boosted the earnings of mobile phone traders but has also led to a surge in offences, including violations of visa rules, and trademarks, theft, illegal dealings and other abuses.

Yesterday’s raid followed an increase in complaints by buyers about growing manipulation and fraud in the mobile phone business.

Ministry of Economy sources said the raid was part of an intensified campaign to ensure discipline in the market and curb what they called growing manipulation of consumers. “We have instructions to step up such campaigns not only against mobile phone dealers but other businesses as well,” one source said.

Traders said they were served with a written warning and had their labour cards seized temporarily. “They returned our cards later and gave us a letter saying we have violated the consumer protection laws by not displaying price tags and by keeping the ‘no refund’ slogan at the bottom of the bill,” one dealer said.

A copy of the letter obtained by Emirates Business read: “In case of repeated offence, you are herby asked to contact the Ministry of Economy, Consumer Protection Department, to settle the violation otherwise you will be liable to legal action stated in the Federal Law No 24 of 2006 concerning consumer protection.”

Ministry officials said the Consumer Protection Department have also installed a free hotline number (600 522 225) to receive complaints, adding more measures would be taken to monitor traders in the capital.