The Consumer Protection Directorate in Lebanon aims to reach an advanced framework to ensure the consumer’s interest, as it provides high-quality services to educate and facilitate the progress of the economic process to maintain the principle of fair competition. As the Consumer Protection Law Guide in Lebanon defines: (The consumer is every person who buys a service. Or a commodity, or that he uses or benefits from, for purposes not related to his professional activity).
This came during the participation of the representative of the Lebanese side, Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade in Lebanon, Muhammad Abu Haidar, in the First Arab Forum for Consumer Protection, which was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Forum for Western Asia (ESCWA) in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry. Industry and commerce in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where Abu Haidar participated in the sessions devoted to developing general policies for consumer protection in the Arab region in line with the goals of sustainable development.
Abu Haidar told Al-Bilad, saying: Lebanon imports 86% of its needs after the decline in domestic product from 55 to 65 billion dollars to 25 to 35 billion dollars.
He added that it was expected that imports would decrease last year, but that did not happen, and thus the need for the dollar is as it is, and Lebanon still imports more than 80% of its needs, but during this crisis, there are some brands that during the year 2021, immediately after the Covid crisis, registered Approximately 3,350 brands, most of which are foodstuffs, stressing that in light of the global inflation of goods and the negative impact on the supply chain, especially in light of the recent developments with the rise in the cost of shipping, industry, energy and insurance, Lebanon, after approving the competition law, made an effort to approve a body Competition to fight monopolies has become the only body capable of protecting consumer rights and fighting the cartels taking place in this regard.
Abu Haidar said that, through this forum, they intended to achieve greater transparency, and among the goals of sustainable development, to automate the process of the Consumer Protection Directorate in Lebanon, as it was announced that during the next two months there will be 18 services for citizens through the Consumer Protection Directorate in Lebanon, and they will be available through an application, adding, Regarding the budget, there are customs exemptions related to environmentally friendly products, which have an additional and positive return to the consumer.
The Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade in Lebanon suggested to the Arab brothers to give more space to discuss the fraud that occurs through the sale of products through social media and electronic pages, which today may constitute a fertile base for research, in addition to benefiting from the exchange of knowledge to develop solutions that serve the consumer.
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