DOHA: Small retailers, including neighbourhood stores, could be in trouble as they must acquire new software and hire Arabic-speaking counter staff to begin issuing sales receipts to customers in Arabic.
Executive regulations issued by the Ministry of Business and Trade on November 18 make it legally binding on all retail and wholesale outlets as well as importers to issue bills to customers in Arabic. The executive regulations, or bye-laws, were issued to help enforce the Consumer Protection Law (Number 8 of 2008).
According to the bye-laws, sales bills must specify the name of the outlet, its address, date of bill, item/s or services being sold or offered, their type and quantity or duration (in the case of a service) in Arabic.
Major retail outlets have already begun working to have the new software in place and they will likely be issuing bills to customers in both English and Arabic.
“We have received the new guidelines from the trade ministry and begun working on the new system,” an official from a major hypermarket told this newspaper yesterday. What these outlets need is new software to issue the bi-lingual receipts. “But we would also need Arabic-speaking counter staff to answer queries from Arabic-speaking customers,” said the hypermarket official.
Smaller outlets said the new rules portend trouble for them as they have to get new software and must also hire Arabic-speaking staff. “Our overhead costs will go up eating into our dwindling profits,” a small provisions store operator said, not wanting his or his outlet’s name in print. As for the condition that all products must also have labels in Arabic, the hypermarket official said most goods do have labels in Arabic.
“We will be sticking Arabic labels manually on products that don’t have Arabic labels. But such products are few.”
The bye-laws ask dealers to provide a machine for temporary use to a buyer if the machine he originally bought is damaged and its repair takes longer than 15 days. It is not known if this rule would apply to motor insurers.
In case a spare part is being replaced due to some defect in a ‘machine’ guarantee must be provided by the dealer for at least three to six months.
The dealer must also hand to the customer a purchase bill showing the outlet he has bought the spare part from and its price.
The Peninsula
