Saudi Commerce Ministry: Nearly 60,000 inspection tours carried out in March

RIYADH – The Ministry of Commerce continues to provide all its services to consumers and the business sector all across the Kingdom during the exceptional circumstances due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Inspection teams from the ministry carried out nearly 60,000 inspection tours Kingdomwide in March 2020. Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the Ministry of Commerce has been working on major tracks to ensure continuity of business, to provide the needs of the consumers and the business sector, to strengthen the partnership with the related authorities; to monitor, follow up and analyze the prices and data collected from the importers on the stocks, the warehouses, markets and hypermarkets, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

During March 2020, the Ministry of Commerce provided its services to 83,934 clients via the Business Call Center. Also, the ministry’s clients carried out 69,273 e-services via the unified link for e-services e.mci.gov.sa.

Inspection teams carried out 59,456 inspection tours in different regions of the Kingdom and issued 7,139 on-the-spot violation tickets entailing penalties.

Inspection teams in cooperation with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) seized over 16.5 million face masks and sanitizers. The products that were still fit to be used were injected back into the market while those unfit for human use were destroyed appropriately.

The ministry has appealed to consumers to report any commercial violations via the Commerce Ministry Consumer Call Center (1900) or the Business Call Center via its toll-free number 920000667.