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

Al Shehhi: UAE Keen toEnact Legislations that Protect Consumer Rights

Dubai-UAE: March 19, 2014 –His ExcellencyEngineer Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy,stressed on the UAE’s keenness to enact legislation thatprotect the consumer in light of the ministry's vision to create a fair andcompetitive 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 tounifyGCC efforts and translate them in a way that promotesand safeguards therights and responsibilities of consumers.

The UAEdelegation to the 4th GCC Consumer ProtectionCommittee Meeting includedHumaid Bin Butti Al Muhairi, Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Affairs, DrHashim Saeed Al Nuaimi, Director of Consumer Protection Department, and Abdullah Mohammed Al Shamsi from the Department of Government Communications.

Commending the efforts of theGCCcountries, His Excellency Al Shehhiemphasized on the need toadoptthe decisions and recommendations that have emerged out of the 4th GCC Consumer Protection CommitteeMeeting. 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 aunified consumer protection system for the GCC countries. He added that plans are underway for establishing a competent technical committee that will oversee the preparation ofexecutive regulations inconsumer protection.

The 4th GCC Consumer Protection CommitteeMeeting proposedthe launch of a unified consumer protection website thatwill be available to the citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on 15May during the next GCC Consumer Protection Committee Meetingin Kuwait.Themanagement 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 ofrecalling 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’ssuggestionof formulating a unified law for goods.

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