Full report on the inspection tours of MCI in the Hajj season from the 11th of Dul Qadah till yesterday
The Ministry of commerce and investment inspection teams seized a total of 182.732 food supplies and consumer goods during their scheduled tours on different sell points at Makkah, Madinah, Taif and the sacred areas in the Hajj season during the period that started from the 11th of Dul Qadah till the morning of Eid Al Adha. The seized goods violations varied from a commercial fraud, non-conformity to the specifications to an items that have no commercial information.
In the sacred areas, the inspection teams seized and destroyed more than 5000 consumer goods that included expired consumer goods (pastries and sugar). The other sized consumer goods were in non-conformity to the specifications (720 electric two-pin plugs).
In the areas surrounding the sacred location, MCI inspection teams seized and registered more than 11.640 consumer goods violations. The violations were also commercial fraud, items exceeded the expiration dates, non-conformity to the specifications and global brands counterfeiting. MCI inspection teams have spread in various parts of Makkah and around the sacred areas. They registered and seized 5059 commodity violation for non-conformity to the standard specifications (electrical extensions and mobile phones charger cables). During the inspection tours, a total of 4609 commercial fraud violation were registered for perfumes. More than 1000 commercial fraud case were registered for consumer goods (shoes, glasses) as in counterfeiting famous brands. And more than 60.000 consumer goods including expired food items were seized in the regions of Makkah and Madinah.
In Makkah, 1062 different items were seized: 66 counterfeit goods for well-known brands and 996 violations of food supplies. In Taif city, MCI inspection teams seized more than 44.000 expired shampoo bottles and about 2000 packs of expired detergents. In Medinah, MCI inspection teams closed a warehouse containing 5089 items, 9397 of which were expired shampoos and body creams in non-conformity to the trade system. All that were used in the commercial fraud violations were confiscated, like the computers and printers.
It is worth mentioning that the MCI inspection teams also implement inspection tours on car repair shops and gas stations to verify the expiration dates on tires and check the validity of gas pumps on all the border cities in cooperation with the Saudi Standards, Metrology and quality organization.
The Ministry of trade and investment declare that the inspection activities will continue on all kinds of sell points, and emphasize that there will be no tolerance for anyone or anything that will compromise the safety and the health of the pilgrims. It also urges everyone to contact the consumer call center if there is any complaints or reports, using the unified number 1900 or through "Commercial Report" smartphone application.