By Mohamed Shoeb
DOHA: As part of efforts to protect consumer rights and ensure transparency, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has launched a key initiative to combat price manipulation, particularly by retailers.
The price regulatory initiative — ‘How Much’ — is a mobile phone application. The initiative aims to enhance competitiveness in Qatar’s retail sector and fight commercial fraud in line with Consumer Protection Law No. 8 of 2008, which requires retail outlets to clearly display price tags on products.
In order to ensure the success of the initiative, the Ministry has enabled the ‘How Much’ service on its mobile phone app, which is available for download on iPhone and Android phones under the name MEC_QATAR. To file a complaint through the newly-added feature, smartphone users will be required to select the ‘Public Services’ option in the Ministry’s app (MEC_QATAR) and go to ‘Consumer Services’ option.
The upgraded mobile app, MEC_QATAR, which was launched earlier by the Ministry, enables consumers to report the names of retail outlets and shops that fail to clearly display the prices of products and services offered to customers.
Consumers can access the ‘How Much’ service by clicking on the consumer services section in the mobile app where they will be required to fill up a small form and attach pictures of the product and the store that has violated the price display rule.
The information submitted through the app will be verified by the Ministry and legal action will be taken against the shop that committed the violation.
Early last week, the Ministry had issued a circular notifying all outlets of the need to comply with laws and regulations pertaining to consumer protection and the need to clearly display price of products in line with the provisions of Law No 8 of 2008 of consumer protection, which stipulates that “suppliers shall be committed when displaying any commodity to indicate its price clearly”.
Article 11 of the law also stipulates that “the supplier shall determine in a clear way all the details pertaining to the offered service, its characteristics and price.”
The Ministry stressed that in the event of non-compliance with the provisions of the two preceding articles, the supplier shall be subject to action.
The Ministry’s initiative comes within the framework of its efforts to ensure the compliance of retail outlets with applicable laws and regulations and to protect consumers against price manipulation.
The ministry will continue its inspection campaigns to ensure retail outlets display prices, warning that it will crack down on violators. Inspectors have conducted raids on several outlets, including major malls and hypermarkets, and have fined violators for offering promotions illegally. The ministry has urged consumers to report any violation by using the app.
The Peninsula
