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Today marks the beginning of the eleventh Gulf Consumer Protection Week, organized by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce in the State of Qatar under the slogan “One Gulf One Consumer’ in conjunction with similar events organized by Consumer Protection departments and bodies from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The aim of this annual event is to unify the GCC’s efforts to expand the consumer protection umbrella and to reach mutual cooperation, in addition to empowering consumers by providing essential skills and knowledge that make them more aware and conscious of their rights and responsibilities as well as active participants in their consumer rights issues.
 
Organizing a variety of events
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce is holding various events, activities, and awareness programs during the week of March 1 to March 7, 2016 in the morning and evening at Souq Waqif. The ministry’s program includes exhibiting original and counterfeit goods and educating the public on ways to distinguish between them; organizing consumer awareness lectures with the aim of spreading sound shopping and consumption practices, while providing special means for hearing and speaking impaired individuals and familiarizing them with their rights and duties as consumers.
The exhibition will also introduce “The Market Program” which aims to educate children on sound purchasing and shopping practices and habits as well as the negative impacts of incorrect purchasing and shopping practices and habits; offering age-appropriate information that can be useful in improving their future shopping methods.  
The ministry will also hold public competitions (Questions & Answers) on the services offered by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce in the areas of economic affairs, commercial affairs and consumer protection, with the aim of raising the public’s awareness of the ministry’s roles and responsibilities.
The ministry will set-up a children’s corner; hand out gifts and souvenirs and coordinate with the owners of globally registered trademarks in order to hold public lectures.
By organizing these events, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce aims to apply the resolutions of the Consumer Protection Committees at the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat through celebrating Gulf Consumer Protection Week on the first of March of every year; and raising consumer awareness in the community and educating the public on the activities and programs of the Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department.
It is noteworthy to mention that there is ongoing cooperation between consumer protection agencies and departments of all the GCC countries, including the exchange of information and data on commodity prices, a prompt exchange of notifications and recalls on faulty goods as well as cooperation in the field of consumer awareness through continuous communication and collaboration.