Liability for violators of Consumer Protection Law

The Consumer Protection Law of Oman is set out in Royal Decree 66/2014 (CPL) which has most recently been complemented by Ministerial Decision 77/2017 setting out the Executive Regulations to the CPL. The CPL is a manifestation of the glorious vision of His Majesty and is a comprehensive law that confers fundamental and essential rights on consumers of goods and products in the Sultanate of Oman. The Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) is vested with the authority and power to enforce the CPL in the Sultanate of Oman.

The CPL has been carefully drafted with the object and purpose of ensuring that all eventualities and circumstances that can possibly arise in trade and commerce are covered, with the eventual aim of protecting the consumer against mischief or wrongdoing by the trader or supplier of products and services.

The CPL contains a robust definition of the term ‘Consumer’. It has been defined as “a natural or legal person that obtains or receives a commodity or receives a service for a consideration or free of charge”. There are some obvious benefits of this broad definition of consumer as both natural and legal persons are covered and so are persons who obtain a commodity or service with or without a consideration. Thus, Consumer includes all persons to whom products or services are advertised by traders as is typically done through advertisements published in various forms of media.

The CPL also contains a comprehensive definition of the term ‘ Product’ which is defined as “any industrial, agricultural, animal or processed product including raw materials and components used in production”.

This broad definition of the term ‘Product’ has the effect of ensuring that all types of products and commodities ranging from a bag of rice to a vehicle are covered by the CPL.

In order to protect consumers, the CPL contains a plethora of obligations of traders and merchants, referred as the “Suppliers”. The term Supplier has been defined as “any natural or legal person trading in a commodity or rendering a service to the Consumer”. It is to be noted that the term “Trading in” has also been defined as: “The sale, purchase, display, production, promotion, transportation, storage or distribution of a commodity. The possession of a prelude to a sale of the commodity is deemed as trading”. The effect of this robust definition of “Supplier” when read with the definition of the term “Trading In” has the effect of bringing within the purview of the CPL all kinds of commercial and trading activities practised in the Sultanate of Oman by all kinds of merchants and traders.

In addition to conferring protection on consumers through a robust set of operative provisions, the CPL contains remedies for consumers who have been wronged. These range from the right of consumers to return or replace defective products within 15 days of purchase to their right to require suppliers to honour the terms and conditions of warranty offered with a product or service. Consumers have the right to have direct recourse to the PACP.

In order to further protect the Consumers, an additional layer of protection conferred on consumers is in the form of deterrence. This is done through the imposition of strict penalties that are applicable to violators of the CPL. Depending upon the violation in question, these can range from imprisonment in jail to payment of heavy fines by violators.

Criminal penalties are expressly covered in eight (8) articles of the CPL. It is to be noted that criminal penalties prescribed in the CPL are without prejudice to any stiffer penalties prescribed under the Oman Penal Code or any other Omani laws. In other words, if there is a higher penalty prescribed under the Oman Penal Code or any other Omani law for an act that is also prescribed as a crime under the CPL, then the stiffer penalty under the Oman Penal Code or the other Omani law will be applicable.

Article 42 of the CPL names the individuals or collection of individuals who can be held responsible for criminal penalties ie the chairman, board of directors, chief executive officer, authorized managers and officials of a company. The two conditions required to be met for attribution of criminal liability to these individuals are also set out in Article 42 of the CPL. These conditions are: (i) awareness of the violation; and (ii) failure to perform their duties contributed to commission of the crime.

Article 42 of the CPL is underpinned on one of the key principles of criminal law known as mens rea (“guilty mind”) which is one of the requirements for establishing guilt of the accused. Based on Article 42 of the CPL, unless the individual charged with an offence is aware of the violation and failed to perform his/her duties that were required to stop the violation, he/ she cannot be held liable for violation of the criminal provisions of the CPL. In line with the principles of criminal responsibility enshrined in the Oman Penal Code, the burden of proof would lie on the public prosecution to establish that the two conditions required for culpability under Article 43 have been met before these individuals can be charged with the commission of an offence under the CPL.

The CPL is a comprehensive piece of legislation which covers all eventualities to protect the consumer against abuse by traders and in doing so, mandates that certain essential rights of consumers must be protected at all cost.

Violators of such essential rights are taken to task by the law through application of criminal penalties that are applicable to the highest office holders in an organisation or company provided that those individuals are deemed to have the knowledge of the offence and to have contributed to the commission of the offence by failing to perform their duties.

[Hassan Shad is General Manager — ARAB Advocates and Legal Consultants, Muscat.]