Members of the Shura Council showered the Ministry of Commerce with a wave of demands in yesterday’s session, (Tuesday), when discussing the annual report of the ministry.
Council member, Eng. Mufreh Al-Zahrani, called on the ministry to exert more efforts and find the necessary and radical solutions to the high and varied prices and control them. Dr. Saleh Al-Shamrani called on the Ministry of Commerce to set a higher ceiling for the prices of basic consumer goods, to consider establishing cooperative societies at reduced prices for basic foodstuffs for citizens, and to develop new mechanisms with modern technologies to combat commercial concealment in shops.
For his part, Eng. Muhammad Al-Ali demanded the Ministry of Commerce, in coordination with the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, to increase public interest markets and markets for consumer associations, regulate the rent of retail stores to contribute to reducing commodity prices, and coordinate with banks to provide financing incentives that encourage citizens to own retail stores, while Dr. Hadi Al-Yami stressed the importance of reviewing the regulations, regulations and decisions related to import in order to contribute to their development and study their impact on the investor and the consumer.
In an intervention by Dr. Khaled Al-Muhaisen, he stressed the urgent need to strengthen the role of “commerce” in the aspect of previous control with regard to consumer protection, especially in the field of electronic commerce, and to reduce cases of commercial fraud and fraud.
In the same context, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abbas called on the Ministry of Commerce to combat the fraudulent methods used by some workers in shops by changing the payment amounts, and the technical problems facing payment methods and affecting consumers, while Dr. Youssef Al-Saadoun stressed the need not to Negligence in allowing the use of foreign names for commercial stores because of their impact on distorting the national identity, calling on the ministry at the same time to give greater importance to gaining the confidence of the local investor and facilitating his practice of business.
On the other hand, Dr. Muhammad al-Jarba called on the Ministry of Commerce to expedite the launch of the consumer protection system, stressing its importance in light of the rising waves facing consumer goods. Dr. Abdullah Al-Salamah also called on the Ministry of Commerce to work on finding solutions to ensure the speedy cancellation of commercial records for the local investor. In order to avoid more fines, financial compensation, and ongoing costs as a result of the continuation of the commercial activity, and in order for the cancellation of the register not to be a major obstacle to thinking about practicing commercial activity by citizens.
