MUSCAT, Jan 1 - The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced that it will soon issue regulations for electronic trade within its efforts to ensure the rights of both seller and buyer as well as to maintain the confidence of trade dealers from inside and outside the Sultanate. The ministry has received a number of complaints from consumers about the products they purchased from exhibitors and vendors from inside the country and abroad through different electronic platforms. Some said that they have completed all money transactions without obtaining the bought products, and a number of complaints related to the sale of products bearing fake trademarks, also through e-platforms.
The ministry said that with the acceleration of electronic transaction volume, protection from e-fraud becomes more difficult, especially for products imported directly by buyers. For this, the buyers must take care about the reality of websites and sales platforms and report any suspicious sites.
Although the ministry has taken measures to prevent the circulation of these counterfeit products, it is a must for consumers to verify companies before purchasing from e-platforms. “Consumers can check trusted platforms registered through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as well as checking international sites of companies and institutions accredited globally and can be searched through the said organisation.
If these e-traders are local and registered as a trademark or as true Omani company in the Sultanate, it could be easily searched through invest-easy system,” the ministry clarified. The ministry adopts the principle of encouraging innovative electronic initiatives and services and setting legal frameworks for them, and this is the approach that most countries of the world have taken to encourage e-trade especially in the early stages. The ministry, through the E-Commerce Department, the General Directorate of Commerce, has taken several measures to organise and develop this sector and keep pace with new developments, methods and modern systems for buying and selling through electronic channels.
“The ministry encourages home business owners, small, medium and large enterprises to promote their products and use modern marketing technologies inside and outside the Sultanate with a commitment to be within the framework of home business licences or the usual commercial registration to ensure the rights of both sellers and buyers. Some regulations for electronic trade will be issued in the coming period as the Sultanate is also continuing to implement the regulations and laws that were issued during the last period, such as the National Payment Systems Law, which is supervised by the Central Bank of Oman and the Electronic Transaction Law, which is supervised by the Ministry of Technology and Communications,” it said.
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