Kuwait Shops, markets face heat over consumer violations

Arab Times

a day ago

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 2: Statistics from the Commercial Control Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the period July 1-30 revealed the registration of 1,357 violation reports – 1,215 inspection reports and 142 consumer complaint reports – under 30 categories of violations. The newspaper obtained a copy of the violations report that the inspection teams headed by Director of the department Faisal Al-Ansari prepared. The violations include the following:
Failure to comply with regulations on advertising data, contracts and invoices;
Failure to use the Arabic language;
Price violations;
Engaging in an activity without a license; - Non-compliance with the prohibition of certain goods and their circulation, including goods that violate public morals, goods printed with Quranic verses, images of His Highness the Amir, the State emblem and flag, bladed weapons, rifles, pistols, self-defense weapons and fireworks;
Violation of general provisions, such as refraining from selling goods or providing services, hiring domestic workers, and provisions regulating the sale and circulation of vegetables and fruits, such as retail within the vegetable market ('farza'), displaying and selling vegetables and fruits without clear information (package weight and country of origin), and absence of a sign for selling vegetables and fruits (such as price, unit and weight);
Violation of provisions regulating the sale and circulation of meat (sale of minced meat), provisions regulating after-sales services (failure of an agent to provide manufactured spare parts, failure to comply with the maintenance or repair period for warranted goods, and failure to provide alternative goods during the warranty period);
Violation of regulations governing the trading and sale of goods and services (closing a store with the intent to refrain from selling or providing services);
Unjustified high prices for consumer goods per person;
Violation of regulations governing the advertising of prices of goods, food and services in shops and restaurants, such as retail sales activities, listing meat and food types on the menu, prices and weight of egg sandwiches and omelets, absence of the list of meat types and their condition, underweight grilled meat, additional fees and amounts on the value of goods, merchandise, materials, machinery or services, the licensee exceeding general price reductions by raising all or some of the selling prices, failure to place a list of prices clearly in Arabic, and failure to specify the goods and services excluded in the offer);
Commercial fraud violations included the import, export, re-export, manufacture, production, sale, storage or transportation of counterfeit or adulterated goods, or materials used to produce adulterate goods, as well as deception or fraud regarding the type, origin, composition or date of goods;