The engineer, Intisar Mahdi Abdel -Aal, Director of the Consumer Protection Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, affirmed the ministry’s keenness through its efforts, initiatives and continuous projects to ensure the protection of consumer rights and enhance confidence between consumers and the commercial sector, while upgrading the consumer consciousness from all groups of society, in order to enhance the commercial movement in local markets and provide a safe shopping environment that meets the needs of consumers and citizens in the Kingdom of Bahrain, including It contributes to building an economy based on the correct and fair commercial competition to push economic development in a sustainable manner in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She said in a special interview to the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) that the International Consumer Consumer Day in which it celebrates annually on March 15, is an occasion to highlight the rights and duties of consumers around the world and enhance awareness of the need to preserve it, adding that the slogan of this year 2025 (the just shift towards lifestyles Sustainable), it aims to enhance the culture of smart shopping and sustainable consumption and achieve justice in the shift towards more sustainable lifestyles. She explained that the ministry is working hard to enhance the protection of consumers in the local markets, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, noting that the World Consumer Protection Day this year coincides with the holy month, which confirms the importance of the initiatives launched by the administration to enhance the confidence of consumers and protect their rights. One of the most important initiatives undertaken by the Ministry is the field visits to His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr. Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro for a group of shops. These visits aim to follow the availability of the basic commodities that are increasing demand during the holy month of Ramadan, in addition to verifying inventory levels and supplies to ensure the stability of local markets in all governorates of the Kingdom of Bahrain regularly and continuously. The visits also included direct knowledge of the effectiveness of promotional festivals and commercial discounts licensed by the Ministry of Consumer Protection, which is widely popular with consumers during the holy month. These efforts contribute to strengthening the partnership between the governmental and commercial sectors, which guarantees the rights of consumers, elevates the level of services provided, and enhances their confidence, in addition to providing a safe shopping environment that meets their needs during this holy month. It indicated the launch of the “consumer friend” initiative, which aims to ensure the stability of commodity prices throughout the blessed month of Ramadan, where the commercial sector participating in the initiative is committed to providing derivative offers in a remarkable, indicative way This initiative resulted in the provision of concrete discounts on the products that are increasing demand during the holy month, and the initiative met a response by the commercial sector, based on their national sense and its commitment to social responsibility, as the blessed month of Ramadan is an opportunity to consolidate the values of solidarity between the various segments of society, and the number of commercial records participating in the initiative reached 24 commercial records to date, and it should be noted that the initiative of the consumer friend has been launched In 2023 and 2024, there was a prominent interaction by the commercial sector, as well as positive results, the most important of which was in 2024, where the number of participating facilities reached 49 commercial facilities and the number of consumers benefiting about 300,000 consumers, which reached the total return of savings for the benefit of consumers, more than 250,000 Bahraini dinars, and these figures reflect the extent of the commercial sector’s commitment to support this initiative, which is a successful model For cooperation between the governmental and commercial sectors in order to achieve stability in the markets and enhance the confidence of consumers, to serve the interests of consumers and ensure the continuity of the availability of basic commodities in the local markets in various governorates of the Kingdom, at fair and stable prices that meet the needs of all segments of society. The Director of the Consumer Protection Department praised the initiative to sign the level of service levels between the Ministry of Industry and Trade with representatives of the commercial sector, which is an initiative aimed at the commercial sector for the purpose of finding solutions For consumers complaints before their arrival at the Consumer Protection Department as a jurisdiction, which supports the government trend in reducing the time to provide government service through direct communication between the representative of the commercial sector and the consumer without an official mediator as the representative of the Consumer Protection Department, as the rate of direct period of consumer complaints after this initiative decreased by 11%, and reducing the number of complaints received to the ministry through its various channels. Also, the consumer protection team receives consumer complaints through several channels, the most important of which is the hot consumer line, the national program for complaints and proposals communicating, consumer mail and personal attendance to the Customer Service Center on the fifth floor in the financial port building. And about the work volume of work and work indicators. The number of complaints in 2024 is a negative rate of 7% compared to 2023. It indicated that the year 2024 witnessed the issuance of 3503 licenses for promotion campaigns, and 5,200 licenses for commercial discounts, in addition to supervising more than 900 withdrawals and prizes, indicating that the credibility of all these campaigns was confirmed to ensure consumer rights. The Director of the Consumer Protection Department stated the importance of launching an awareness campaign entitled “in the month of goodness We are not, with the advent of the blessed month of Ramadan. He is aware of his rights and takes conscious purchasing decisions, as it aims to enhance awareness about the importance of consumer protection from misleading offers and unfair commercial practices, in a way that contributes to building a more transparent and fair market, which will result in reducing and reducing the rate of complaints received to the Consumer Protection Department during this holy month by enhancing awareness of rights and obligations of merchants.
