Protection of consumer rights in the Sultanate
Every country in the world has a legal interest in protecting the consumer or common man who purchases goods or services from a retailer or trader. The consumer cannot be expected to be aware of all the particulars of a product or service. The assumption of the law, therefore, is that the consumer is the weaker party and the contractual relationship that transpires between a consumer and trader is inherently unequal.
The Oman Consumer Protection Law (CPL) proceeds on the basis of the above assumption and confers certain minimum protections favouring the consumer.
The Oman Consumer Protection Law was issued in 2014 by Royal Decree 66/2014 which replaced an earlier version of the law issued in 2002. Recently, the provisions of the CPL have been supplemented by the Executive Regulations issued in March 2017.
The CPL is enforced in Oman by the Public Authority for Consumer Protection which was created in 2011.
In protecting the consumer, CPL applies to all kinds of traders including agents, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers of products.
CPL has created a level playing field between the consumer and the trader in certain exemplary ways. These include protections conferred upon the consumer which ensure that traders do not take undue advantage of the consumer’s rights. All kinds of and services and products, ranging from a cell phone to a vehicle, are covered in the CPL.
Some important protections introduced by the CPL favouring the consumer are set out below.
CPL prohibits traders from dealing with any products or services without first complying with health and safety requirements and prohibits dealing in fake, damaged or adulterated products.
Traders are specifically prohibited from false or misleading advertising. The objective is to ensure that advertisements are not deceptive in nature or contain any promises that are unreasonable or cannot be fulfilled.
CPL also confers certain rights favouring the consumer. These include the right to secure the correct information about the product and service, the right to freely choose which product or service to purchase, the right to secure warranty of quality of a merchandize or service, the right to secure health and safety of a product or service, guarantee that the product or service does not cause damages on from normal use, and the right to claim compensation for damages sustained by consumer and his/her properties.
In addition, consumers have the right to receive an invoice in Arabic containing the essential details of the product and service.
An important protection conferred on consumers is the right to seek replacement or refund of a defective product within 15 days of purchase.
CPL also contains provisions that require all products and services to be sold with a warranty (although the warranty tenure may vary from product to product).
CPL contains provisions dealing with recall of defective products or product whose usage may expose consumers to a health or safety hazard.
Most importantly, CPL contains robust provisions that impose criminal and civil penalties on violators (both natural persons and companies). The imposition of criminal and civil penalties should act as a deterrent against companies or individuals failing to abide by the mandatory provisions of the CPL.
The CPL and the Executive Regulations are a manifestation of the glorious vision of His Majesty to confer protection on the consumers by ensuring their fundamental rights. [Hassan Shad is the General Manager of ARAB Advocates and Legal Consultants, Muscat.]