With 32% Growth, “SEDD” implements 51,821 Inspection Campaigns during 2021 First Quarter

15-04-2021

Sharjah Economic Development Department “SEDD” carried out 51821 inspection campaigns on various economic establishments in Sharjah during the first quarter of this year 2021. These campaigns witnessed a growth of 32% compared to the first quarter of last year, which amounted to 39,182 inspection campaigns. The Commercial Officers at The Department of Commercial Control and Protection Department at SEDD held these campaigns according to well-thought-out plans to ensure the safety of all economic practices in the emirate. Also, the Department intensified its role during the current period, coinciding with the month of Ramadan, in order to ensure the commitment of establishments and to address violators during the holy month.

Commenting on that, HE Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, SEDD Chairman, affirmed the Department's constant keenness to create an ideal commercial environment with a high culture of awareness and neutrality in the procedures of buying and selling in all economic sectors, thus following the highest international standards and practices. These results confirm the active role that the Department plays to ensure the safety of all economic practices in the emirate's markets, and to enhance the economic and commercial position of Sharjah.

On the other hand, Salim Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director of Commercial Control and Protection Department at SEDD, said that the Department is working on implementing extensive inspection and awareness campaigns to spread awareness in addition to familiarizing traders with the systems and procedures adopted. All of this is done to ensure safety and security of Sharjah’s markets. He clarified that the campaigns were intensified on markets during the past period to educate traders and investors in sales outlets, and aware them about the importance of adhering to laws and preventing any violations in the sale process. Additionally, he stressed that SEDD continues to intensify field visits to many major markets at which their activities are concerned with the month of Ramadan, such as Souq Al Jubail, livestock markets and others, as well as the various highly demanded economic activities at this time of the year.

Also, Al Suwaidi emphasized on SEDD’s commitment to work with merchants and consumers to create a fair relationship between the two parties. He added that the role of the Department is not limited to protecting consumers and investors only, but rather to familiarize traders with the systems and procedures adopted to avoid disputes against them and to implement inspection campaigns to ensure the safety of all economic practices in the markets. Likely, he pointed out that SEDD regularly organizes such campaigns through a comprehensive field plan implemented throughout the year by the specialized work team of Commercial Officers, as an emphasis on controlling markets, spreading awareness among traders and consumers and limiting harmful practices.

From his side, Rashid Al Hosani, Deputy Head of Commercial Control Section, illustrated that the total number of inspection visits reached 51821 at the first quarter of this year with a growth rate of 32% compared to visits conducted in 2020, which were 39182 ones only. He announced that the number of visits reached 16,966 ones in January, while they hit 17,397 ones in February, and 17,458 campaigns in March.

Furthermore, Al Hosani said that the Department conducts a series of intensive inspection campaigns on sales outlets and shops to ensure the correctness and accuracy of the commercial scales used. He clarified that such campaigns aim to match these scales available in stores with the standards and specification approved in UAE and to ensure that they comply with UAE technical regulations for weights and scales.  He added that the campaigns fall within SEDD’s plan to implement and conduct huge number of inspection campaigns in the field of metrology with the aim of protecting the emirate's markets from fraud and manipulating weights and raising awareness among the owners of these commercial establishments of the importance of adhering to the calibration of scales. He explained that calibrating the scales aims to ensure the safety of measuring instruments in accordance with the mandatory requirements in order to achieve the necessary protection for the consumer and to support the national economy.

Moreover, Al Hosani pointed out to the  importance of the availability of a number of requirements in commercial scales. Such requirements include the presence of a statement card containing the basic data for scale. Also, such requirements include making sure that there are two screens for the scale, one for trader and other for customer to read the weight, as well as the presence of SEDD’s green periodic verification label. Also, he stressed on the importance of not using the scale with red label due to its lack of approved requirements.