Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Commerce and Investment (MCI) organized awareness exhibitions in all 13 regions of the Kingdom recently.

The move was in conjunction with the World Consumer Day, which is celebrated on March 15 each year. This was part of the MCI initiative “Know Your Right” aimed at informing the consumer about his rights.

The 13 exhibitions, with 100,000 visitors, conveyed several awareness messages aimed at promoting the principle of consumer rights and educating the consumer and the trader on the implications of selling and purchasing process, besides raising the value of transparency and clarity in business transactions, also protecting the consumers against deception, fraud and price exaggeration or variation.

Pictures and illustrations about the consumer’s right attracted the attention of visitors, who preferred to take photographs with them. The campaign included several slogans, phrases and messages to raise consumer awareness on their rights rights. The campaign of “Take the Rest of Your Money” informed the consumer about his right to get back the small change when making purchasing, while the campaign The Warranty is Two Years was to ensure that the warranty of electrical and electronic appliances sold in local stores and markets was not for less than two years. The visitors also interacted greatly with the Gold and Jewelry section, as well as the section of buying and selling through websites.

The exhibitions also included a presentation of some chapters of the Consumer Right Guide, in addition to distributing some copies of the guide to visitors.

The ministry recently launched the Consumer Right Guide, which is considered a comprehensive reference to all the rights and duties of consumers. The ministry lists through this unified guide more than 50 consumer rights in six chapters.

The first chapter contains the General Consumer Rights, regarding the commercial data for all goods and products.

Chapter 2 is on Durable Goods, which deals with the procurement of new goods and products, such as electrical appliances, vehicles, maintenance, spare parts and other rights related to this type of goods.

Chapter 3 focuses on the general rights related to replacement and return. Chapter 4 contains the consumer awareness on Sales, Discounts and Competitions Rules & Regulations. Chapter 5 covers consumer rights in relation to Food and Provisions Legislations. Chapter 6 highlights the mechanism of giving incentive rewards to those informing about trade violations.

The ministry interacts with the consumer and raises his awareness about his rights through all the media channels, field events and the control campaigns carried out by its inspectors.

The MCI has allocated a toll free number (1900) to receive all consumer reports and complaints. The consumer can also lodge complaints through the application Commercial Violation Report, or via the ministry’s website.