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Bills must be in Arabic, with no spelling errors

Umm Al Quwain - Up to 220 commercial institutions across the emirate have been notified to amend existing bill format.

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Groceries and food outlets in Umm Al Quwain have been instructed to include details of purchases in both Arabic and English.
The Economic Development Department has also asked the outlets to avoid spelling mistakes in bills while mentioning the name of the item a consumer buys.
According to a senior official at the department, up to 220 commercial institutions across the emirate have been notified to amend existing bill format.
Juma Jassim Al Mansuri, Head of Consumer Protection Section, said that some shops do not issue bills in Arabic while some give bills with unclear dates and misspelt words.
"Our staff inspectors have been deployed round the clock to put an end to these breaches," he said, adding some outlets were not issuing bills at all. He said: "A grace period of one week has been given to the said 220 institutions to implement the new rules."
"The move is meant to give a chance to consumers to be aware of their rights.""Some of the bills seized were so old and unclear that it would not be possible for the inspectors to verify their details in case a customer wishes to lodge a complaint." Some food outlets proved to have been adopting the 'no refund, no exchange' policy in violation of the set rules, he said.
"This is illegal; a consumer is entitled to give back and exchange or even be refunded if the items he or she bought prove to be faulty or unfit for human consumption."
Al Mansuri warned that inspections would be increased to follow up the erring entities, and ensure that they amended their practice.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Umm Al Quwain