Sunday, Apr 29, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai: Perfumes and scented products will have to comply with new regulations from next year, a senior official of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma) said.

Esma has already began revising the standards for perfumes, which include traditional Arabic varieties like oud as well as scents, air-fresheners, deodorants and Western style sprays.

We are working closely with the Fragrance Federation of the UAE, which includes traders, manufacturers, retailers etc, to take their inputs and we plan to involve them in formulating new regulations, said Mohammad Saleh Badri, Acting Director-General of Esma.

The authority has formed a committee to oversee the formulation as well as implementation of the new regulations, which includes members of the fragrance federation, health experts, Esma officials as well as international consultants.

Badri said that though there are certain norms that currently govern the perfumes market, they havent actually succeeded in protecting the interests of consumers that well.

As is our practice before formulating any new regulation, we are involving manufacturers and traders to get their views and ideas. Also we have informed WTO to make sure that other manufacturing countries are aware of an coming change, he said.

No proper mechanism

Badri said that the new regulations are being put in place to ensure the quality of perfumes, which is found of different quality and prices. There is no proper mechanism currently to make sure a product is worth the price.

Prices of some local products like oud.

Esma wants to make sure that the customers get the real value for their money.

The specifications that will be announced for fragrances will be based on highest level of international standards. We have a lot of products, particularly the traditional Arabic perfumes produced locally, which need to be controlled. We want to free the market of fake and counterfeit perfumes and make sure highest quality products are sold according to their original value, he added.

In order to ensure that the manufacturers are consistent in their quality standards, Esma would launch a scheme under which quantities of perfumes would be tested and certified by Esma experts before it is packed. Tests would be done by batch or experts will regularly monitor the process, the raw material and ingredients that go into the product. .

It all depends on the way a product is produced, designed and packaged, so it is an end to end system, Badri said.

Importantly, Esma will also make sure that its control on quality doesnt impact on prices and consumers dont suffer adversely.

No mechanism

Currently, there is no mechanism to differentiate between a good quality product and a bad quality product, so anything could be sold at any price. With the new system in place, the bad products will vanish from the market and only good products will be available and will be priced according to their quality.

By September, the draft regulation for perfumes would be sent to the UAE cabinet, which will hopefully ratify it in the next few weeks.

Hopefully, by the end of this year the regulations would be announced and we will give six months grace period for all the concerned parties to follow the regulations, Badri informed.

For perfumes made outside UAE, manufacturers and importers have to test the products from an internationally accredited laboratory and obtain an Esma certificate before importing their products.

The authority is also planning to launch a similar mechanism for all types of cosmetics.

Welcome measure

Traders and retailers said they are hoping the new regulations wont cause any upheaval.

I hope it will be good for the market, because too many restrictions will make life difficult for us as well as for the consumers, said Syed Hasannain, senior sales manager at a perfume shop in Dubai.

Another perfume vendor from a leading retail outlet said: It is good to have certain standards, so that it is clear for the consumers what is original and what is fake.

Currently, there a lot of products in the market that pass off as original and people are duped.

By Shafaat Shahbandari, Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.