Mobile phone dealers fined over Dh200,000

Several mobile phone shops in Abu Dhabi have been fined a total of more than Dh200,000 for selling fake Sony Ericsson cellular products although they say such products are already in the local market.

At least 20 dealers were summoned by court at the Abu Dhabi Municipality last week and told to pay Dh10,000 each for dealing in Chinese-made Sony Ericsson chargers, batteries, headsets and other fake items.

Dealers said they were not given a chance to defend themselves in court and were ordered to pay the fine or face jail and closure of their shops.

“We tried to explain to the judge that these products are already in the local market and there are many distributors who supply us from Dubai…but the judge did not listen to us,” said Jamil Ayyash, a mobile phone dealer on Defence Road, home to the largest mobile phone market in the capital.

“We wanted to make clear that we are not cheating customers…we get these products from authorized suppliers and we give customers the choice whether they want a original or non-original product…Chinese-made products are much cheaper and many customers come for these products…we are not importing fake products into the country as they are already traded in the market.”

Scores of law enforcers from the Ministry of Interior raided mobile phone shops in Abu Dhabi last month and seized a large quantity of fake products of Sony Ericsson, one of the largest mobile phone makers.

The detectives stormed nearly 25 shops and impounded products worth more than Dh50,000 in response to a complaint filed by the Dubai-based Centium Communications, a key distributor of Sony Ericsson accessories in the UAE.

The inspectors also seized the passports of the shops’ owners and told them they have to appear in court on charges of trading in counterfeit products. The traders were also handed a letter asking them to come for investigation at the department of organized crime before standing trial.

It was the first time that the Ministry of Interior was involved in a major raid against fake products as such offences are usually handled by the consumer protection department at the Ministry of Economy.

“We were summoned by the Abu Dhabi Municipality court last week…we had thought it was a chance for us to explain the real situation but the judge just ordered us to sign and pay,” said Jassim Hariri, another dealer.

“We could happily accept this fine had they warned us before…we have never received any notice saying we should not deal in such products…they are all over the market in Dubai and we simply tell the customer that these are not original products, hence they are cheap…...the customers are made aware of this fact so where is the cheating in our dealing.”

More than 150 mobile phone shops are based on Defence Road, the largest second hand mobile phone market in the Gulf. Most of the traders are Syrians, who get their phones and other products from authorized dealers in Dubai.

Defence Road has been the scene of repeated raids by the Ministry of Economy over the widespread trading of fake products and Chinese mobile phones, many of which are clones of famous global cellular phone manufacturers.

The Ministry had said its raids are intended to enforce copyrights and intellectual property protection laws and restore discipline to the market.

During another surprise raid on those shops three months ago, inspectors impounded more than 500 Chinese handsets worth over Dh75,000. But many dealers are still trading in such phones after they were told to avoid dealing in handsets that carry the name of Nokia and other famous brands.

Like in other countries, China has invaded the UAE’s lucrative mobile phone market, one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, as it had done with its cheap watches, radio and TV sets, and other electronics.

The UAE has one of the world’s highest mobile phone penetration ratios of nearly 200 per cent at the end of September, with the total number of mobile phone subscribers exceeding 10.8 million, according to official data.

This is because of the country’s high per capita income, which surpassed Dh150,000 last year, as well as advanced mobile services and strong domestic appetites for cellular technology.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.