During media briefing attended by H.E. Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri
H.E. Bin Touq emphasises the significant progress achieved by the UAE in developing a robust legislative and regulatory framework for consumer protection
In the presence of H.E. Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MoET) organised a media briefing at its headquarters in Dubai to highlight its ongoing efforts and newly introduced plans to strengthen oversight of product, commodity, and service prices across the UAE markets, ensuring the protection of consumer rights during the holy month of Ramadan.
H.E. Bin Touq emphasised the significant progress achieved by the UAE in developing a robust legislative and regulatory framework for consumer protection. It reflects the country’s firm commitment to reinforcing consumer rights and strengthening consumer confidence in its markets, thereby supporting sustainable economic growth and fostering a fair and transparent commercial ecosystem in line with global best practices.
During his speech, His Excellency said: “The Ministry of Economy and Tourism has accelerated national efforts, in coordination with relevant government entities at both federal and local levels, particularly through the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection, while strengthening constructive dialogue and collaboration with the cooperative sector, the private sector, and all stakeholders. Our goal is to increase compliance with consumer protection legislation and policies across all retail outlets in UAE markets, promote sound commercial practices, and enhance oversight of goods and products in the marketplace.”
An appropriate and safe environment to safeguard consumer rights:
H.E. added: “We are committed to providing a conducive and safe environment for consumers when purchasing goods or services, one that enables them to meet all their needs for goods and services while safeguarding their rights. This includes the issuance of competitive laws and policies that support integrated regulatory mechanisms and procedures to ensure genuine consumer protection and promote stability and balance in local markets.”
A robust legislative foundation for consumer protection:
H.E. Bin Touq continued: “Most notable among these legislative frameworks is the Federal Decree-Law No. 5 of 2023 amending certain provisions of Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection, along with its Executive Regulations. Together, they represent a key milestone in developing the regulatory system and establishing a balanced relationship between suppliers and consumers. They impose over 43 obligations on suppliers to ensure the highest standards of consumer protection, enhance the effectiveness of deterrent measures against any violations or breaches, and ultimately achieve consumer satisfaction, happiness, and well-being within a fair and safe commercial environment.”
His Excellency noted that, as part of this oversight role, the Ministry has strengthened mechanisms to control price stability through the issuance of the ‘Pricing Policy for Essential Consumer Goods’ and its derivative resolutions. This policy prohibits price increases for nine categories of essential goods, including cooking oil, eggs, dairy products, rice, sugar, poultry, legumes, bread, and wheat, without prior approval from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, while all other goods remain subject to supply-and-demand dynamics and market competition mechanisms.
Protecting consumer rights in e-commerce:
Furthermore, His Excellency highlighted that the issuance of Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023 on Modern Technology-based Trade has played a key role in regulating and advancing e-commerce within the UAE markets. The decree clearly defines guaranteed consumer rights, including the provision of adequate technical protection measures that enable consumers to purchase goods and services safely through online platforms, the availability of secure digital payment methods and channels in accordance with the approved or specified technical and regulatory standards set by the competent authority, without imposing additional fees. The law also ensures the protection of data in line with the regulatory, professional, and technical requirements established under various legislation. These measures collectively ensure data ownership, classification, reliability, and security.
Also, the Cabinet issued Resolution No. 200 of 2025 concerning regulations on violations and administrative penalties for acts committed in violation of the provisions of Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2023 on Trading by Modern Technological Means.
The UAE’s Strategic Stockpile:
H.E. stated: “The UAE’s strategic reserves are highly efficient and comprehensive, ensuring sustained long-term supply. With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, our markets are witnessing abundant availability of goods and products, especially strategic commodities. The Ministry is committed to meeting all consumer needs and ensuring easy access to goods in the required quantities, without any unjustified price increases.”
His Excellency added: “The UAE has adopted prudent policies to ensure a strategic stockpile of all essential goods, providing citizens, residents, and visitors with ample and sufficient supplies for extended periods, thanks to the clear directives and unlimited support from the country’s wise leadership.”
420 inspection campaigns conducted during Ramadan:
His Excellency underscored the Ministry’s efforts and its action plan to enhance price surveillance of products and goods in the UAE’s markets during the holy month of Ramadan. Key aspects include regular monitoring to ensure the availability of essential goods and to prevent unjustified price hikes. These efforts will be coordinated with local Economic Development Departments and suppliers across the country. A total of 26 meetings will be held with major suppliers and importers to ensure an adequate flow of essential goods. Furthermore, the Ministry plans to conduct 420 inspection tours and field visits to retail outlets during Ramadan to monitor prices, the extent of compliance with pricing policies, and to prevent commercial exploitation. If any violations are found, legal measures will be taken immediately.
Awareness campaigns on consumption:
His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri said: “In cooperation with the economic development departments, we will launch a series of intensive awareness campaigns to promote a culture of conscious consumption during Ramadan. These will include the dissemination of a consumer rights guide via social media platforms to clarify consumers’ basic rights; promotion of rational consumption by raising awareness about avoiding waste and ensuring goods are available for all; and enhancing consumer communication with the Ministry via the toll-free number (8001222) to receive complaints, observations, and provide immediate responses to inquiries.”
Through this plan, the Ministry will intensify its efforts in collaboration with its partners to enforce legislation and decisions concerning consumer protection. It will also raise consumer awareness about the legislative framework for consumer protection in the country and the pricing policy for essential consumer goods. This enhances consumers’ awareness of their rights and obligations and promotes sound consumption practices.
Offers and discounts on goods and products during Ramadan:
Above all, The Ministry’s teams will also monitor and oversee initiatives announced by a large number of cooperatives and retail outlets in the country for the holy month of Ramadan. These include discount campaigns on goods and products across various branches of these cooperatives and outlets. Discounts on some products offered by the cooperatives exceed approximately 50 per cent.
Promotional offers for essential goods and products at some sales outlets and cooperatives also include Ramadan basket offers. These baskets comprise a range of essential goods needed by families during the holy month, such as sugar, rice, flour, grains, oil, legumes, and milk.
Digital system for price monitoring:
As part of the Ministry of Economy and Tourism’s efforts to activate real-time price monitoring and oversight into retail outlets and ensure compliance with approved pricing policies, an online price monitoring system has been developed. This system enables automatic and continuous price tracking and allows inspection teams to detect any violations or unjustified price changes.
The system relies on a direct technical link with major retail outlets. These outlets periodically provide the system with price lists, which are then analyzed and compared against reference prices. The system monitors the prices of consumer goods daily and identifies any deviation from the specified price to ensure market stability and protect consumers.
The Ministry’s digital price monitoring system is linked to 627 major retail outlets, comprising a wide range of cooperatives, hypermarkets, and large stores. These represent over 90 per cent of the domestic trade volume of essential consumer goods across the seven emirates. It will play a pivotal role in directly monitoring prices during Ramadan.
The Ministry also warned against committing any violations or illegal practices, including:
- Increasing prices of the nine essential consumer goods, whether by the trader or supplier individually and without obtaining prior approval from the Ministry.
- Manipulating goods-related data and withholding information from the Ministry.
- Providing misleading data to the Ministry hindering monitoring activities.
- Prior agreement between the supplier and trader to collectively raise prices.
The system for implementing administrative penalties and fines in the Ministry follows a graduated approach aimed at rectifying violations and promoting compliance with existing legislation. This approach takes into account the nature, severity, frequency of the violation, and its impact on the market and consumer.
Depending on the type of violation, measures may include issuing a written warning and granting the violator a deadline to rectify the situation, or imposing financial fines starting from AED 500 and reaching up to AED 100,000. Additionally, other administrative actions may be taken, such as the temporary closure of the establishment for varying periods. In severe cases or upon repeated violations, stricter measures proportionate to the gravity of the violation may be implemented.
Market and retail outlet monitoring to measure traders’ compliance with decisions issued by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism concerning prices
- The Ministry and economic development departments jointly conducted approximately 155,218 inspection tours across various markets in the country during 2025 that resulted in 7,702 violations. The tours monitored the placement of price labels, the quality of products, and ensured the prevention of commercial fraud and infringement of trademarks.
- The Ministry received 3,167 complaints via its website last year. These complaints were handled with high efficiency, as 93.9 per cent of them were resolved, reflecting the effectiveness of the electronic system and the prompt response of the competent authorities in protecting consumer rights.
- The Ministry received 130 product recall requests last year, leading to the recovery of 551,976 goods. This reflects the continuous follow-up on product quality and safety and ensuring consumer protection.
The Ministry called upon consumers to adhere to conscious purchasing practices, such as retaining receipts and verifying them against purchases, as they are the fundamental guarantee of their rights. The Ministry also encourages interaction with regulatory authorities and communication through its official channels to submit complaints or report harmful practices.
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism affirmed its ongoing efforts to develop the consumer protection environment and guarantee consumer rights in accordance with the best standards, in cooperation with relevant authorities. This enhances the competitiveness of the national economy and makes the UAE market a sustainable destination for major trademarks.
