Thursday 17 / July / 2025
RUSTAQ: The Primary Court in Al Rustaq, South Al Batinah Governorate, handed out imprisonment and fines to three different establishments in separate cases.
In the first case, judicial officers found a commercial centre promoting products with marked up prices and offering expired products for sale. The officers found the malpractice during the course of their field visit to several commercial centres.
The store was found in violation of article 20 of the Consumer Protection Law which states that “the provider and advertiser shall be under an obligation to maintain transparency and credibility and shall refrain from any acts of misleading publicity and advertisement while promoting any commodity or the services offered to the consumer.”
The punishment, as cited in article 40, can be between three months and three years with fine. The article states: “Any person in violation of Articles No. 7, 8, 20, 25, 27, 28, 32 of this law shall be punishable by imprisonment of no less than three months and no more than three years and with a fine not less than OMR2,000 and not exceeding OMR 50,000 or with either of these two penalties, and if the crime resulted in the death of one or more persons, the imprisonment shall not be less than five years.”
In his ruling against the commercial store, the judge sentenced the first accused to three months in prison and a fine of OMR1,000 for selling expired products and an additional 10 days for selling substandard products. The second accused was fined OMR2,000 for his role in advertising the products. The judge ordered both the accused to pay court fines equally and also ordered that the products be destroyed. Another commercial establishment was also fined OMR2,000 for false advertisements of products. In another case, a consumer had filed a complaint with the PACP against a commercial establishment for failure to adhere to agreed terms between the two parties. The establishment was tasked with installing solar cells, but had installed fewer cells than what was agreed to. The judge fined the establishment OMR150 for violating the law.
