Sunday 24 December 2023
In November, the Court of First Instance of the Criminal Circuit in the Wilayat of Barka issued 26 judicial rulings in favor of consumers against several violators of the Consumer Protection Law issued by Royal Decree No. 66/2014. The rulings came because these establishments have committed several misdemeanors, such as failure to provide the service in a proper manner consistent with its nature, failure to provide the consumer with an invoice in Arabic, and failure of the supplier to return the product or repair it in the event of a defect in it.
The history of these cases is as follows: The Consumer Protection Department in Barka had received several complaints against commercial establishments for non-compliance with contracts concluded between them and consumers, which prompted them to submit their complaints. After examining the complaints and collecting evidence, the Consumer Protection Department in Barka referred the complaints to the competent judicial authorities, which convicted the accused of the aforementioned misdemeanors.
Article 23 of the Consumer Protection Law states that “ The provider shall provide the service to the consumer in an optimal manner and in accordance with the purpose for which the service was procured and shall guarantee the service provided for a time interval that is appropriate for the nature of the service, failing this, the provider shall refund the value of such service or the amount compensating for any shortfall therein or in the perform the service again in an optimal manner.
Article 24 of the same law states that “ The provider shall provide the consumer with a document or invoice legibly written in Arabic to prove the purchase by the consumer of the commodity or the receipt by the consumer of the service and the invoice shall include the basic information for the commodity or the service as contemplated under the regulations. Article 25 of the same law states that The provider shall take back the commodity and refund the price thereof to the consumer or replace or repair the same free of charge in case the consumer discovers that the commodity is defective. The regulations shall describe the mechanism for returning the commodity the method for determining the value of the damage and the amount the provider shall refund to the consumer and the time interval during which the consumer is required to return the commodity to the provider. The punishments varied between imprisonment and fines which was OMR1400 in total.