DOHA: The Minister of Business and Trade has issued executive regulations to help implement the Consumer Protection Law of 2008, making it mandatory for all retail and wholesale outlets to issue sales receipts in Arabic.
The rule will apply to restaurants as well as to importers and exporters and all kinds of service providers. The regulations, also called bye-laws, are to be effective after being published in the official gazette.
The rules give the Ministry and the Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry to fix the prices of goods and services they deem fit by issuing lists to the effect.
Sales receipts provided by the outlets to customers must mention the price or prices of items being sold or services being offered and no extra charge must be levied from a customer for issuing such a receipt.
In what is welcome news especially for vehicle buyers, the bye-laws say dealers must provide free after-sales service for not less than three years.
The duration of warranty is to be decided according to the item being sold or service being offered and it must be written in the contract. Traders can also announce guarantee periods orally or in the media. Outlets are legally obliged to inform the Ministry by filling up a form about side-effects or harmful effects or damage an item can cause to consumers.
Sellers must mention on receipts they give away if an item is an used one, along with its price. Buyers have the right to get refund or exchange items in case it is found damaged or unfit for use.
And, significantly, an outlet is to be taken to task if it runs misleading advertisements to promote their products or services.
The executive regulations issued on November 18 have taken four years as the Consumer Protection Law was put in force in 2008. The Peninsula
