His Excellency Al Shehhi Heads UAE Delegation to 4th GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting in Kuwait

Al Shehhi: UAE Keen to Enact Legislations that Protect Consumer Rights

Dubai-UAE: March 19, 2014 - His Excellency Engineer Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, stressed on the UAE's keenness to enact legislation that protect the consumer in light of the ministry's vision to create a fair and competitive economic environment that guarantees the rights of all parties.

The comments came during the 4th GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting that brought together undersecretaries from the ministries of the GCC member states as well as chiefs of consumer protection agencies in the region. Held on March 15 in Kuwait, the meeting aimed to unify GCC efforts and translate them in a way that promotes and safeguards the rights and responsibilities of consumers.

The UAE delegation to the 4th GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting included Humaid Bin Butti Al Muhairi, Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Affairs, Dr Hashim Saeed Al Nuaimi, Director of Consumer Protection Department, and Abdullah Mohammed Al Shamsi from the Department of Government Communications.

Commending the efforts of the GCC countries, His Excellency Al Shehhi emphasized on the need to adopt the decisions and recommendations that have emerged out of the 4th GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting. While reviewing the integration of the outcomes of the third meeting held in September 2014, he pointed out that the GCC Supreme Council's approval is awaited on the implementation of a unified consumer protection system for the GCC countries. He added that plans are underway for establishing a competent technical committee that will oversee the preparation of executive regulations in consumer protection.

The 4th GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting proposed the launch of a unified consumer protection website that will be available to the citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on 15 May during the next GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meeting in Kuwait. The management of the website will be distributed among the GCC countries where each country will hold responsibility to enter its own data on commodity prices and other consumer related information.

In addition to addressing issue of recalling defective goods and the creation of a unified center for the management of the recalling process, the meeting announced the formation of a committee to study Saudi Arabia's suggestion of formulating a unified law for goods.

It is worth mentioning that the GCC committee for trade cooperation decided at its 46thmeeting in October 2012 to further activate the GCC Consumer Protection Committee so that it holds four regular meetings throughout the year.

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For information please contact:
Tareq Al Marzouqi
Director
Govt. Communication Department, Ministry of Economy
02 613 1140

Nael Abdulaziz
Associate Director, APCO Worldwide
055 986 9766
nabdulaziz@apcoworldwide.com