Be Right - Know Your Consumer Rights

In February 2010, the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) launched the ‘Be Right know your Consumer Rights’ campaign to raise awareness to retailers and consumers about the Consumer Rights Law.

The Consumer Code of Rights were issued under UAE Federal Law (24) 2006 by the Ministry of Economy however in Dubai, the DED’s Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division, has been charged with the responsibility to ensure that consumers and retailers alike comply with the Consumer Code of Rights, understand their responsibilities and, where resolution is sought, facilitates this process between retailers and consumers.

The DED has a very strong relationship with retailers and consumers in Dubai through its agency, the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (formerly known as the Dubai Shopping Festival Office), and it is our intention to continue to build on the enormous success of the Dubai’s retail environment.

The DED has a very strong relationship with retailers and consumers in Dubai through its agency, the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (formerly known as the Dubai Shopping Festival Office), and it is our intention to continue to build on the enormous success of the Dubai’s retail environment.

We have worked hard to earn the title of, “The Shopping Capital of the Middle East”, and are committed to providing customers with a quality shopping experience and the trust to shop with confidence.

Meeting consumer expectations on rights available to them in Dubai can be a challenge, considering that consumer compares the rights available to them in Dubai with what is available to them back home in their country of origin, especially when things go wrong or they change their mind about a purchase.

We live in an environment with over 180 nationalities which is one of the unique points of living and working in Dubai. However confusion arises when entitlements vary from a consumers’ country of origin - which indeed is the case with many laws and regulations.

Given this, our role becomes even more important because not only are we raising awareness that the laws on consumer rights exists, but we must ensure that we provide clarity on what that actually means.

In doing so, we embarked on a road show at all the major malls in Dubai. We trained over 2000 retailers from senior managers to retail assistants, about the law. We educated them about what is considered legal and what is actually illegal, reinforcing time and again the need to be transparent with customers and the need to communicate effectively on ‘return and refund policies.’

In doing so, we embarked on a road show at all the major malls in Dubai. We trained over 2000 retailers from senior managers to retail assistants, about the law. We educated them about what is considered legal and what is actually illegal, reinforcing time and again the need to be transparent with customers and the need to communicate effectively on ‘return and refund policies.’ Our interaction with consumers has begun with a targeted advertising and SMS campaign promoting consumer rights and through our recently launched website www.consumerrights. ae. We are now in the process of exploring social media opportunities to ensure we capture everyone’s attention! After all, our description of a consumer is quite simple – if you shop for products or services then we want to communicate our messages to you!

I encourage you to visit our website. It has wealth of information for both retailers and consumers, provides clarification on the Federal Law Directives, shopping advice, responsibilities and rights and the role of DED in the entire process.

The trading and retail sector plays a tremendous part in Dubai’s economy, and we at DED will continue to work together with retailers and consumers to achieve Dubai government’s goal to position the Emirate as one of the best shopping destinations in the world.