Protect society from promotions!

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion keeps a close watch on commercial promotional activities in the Sultanate of Oman. It regulates advertisements of promotional offers and provides licenses for the purpose to protect consumers from being exploited. Some companies and shopping malls announce rebates misguiding individuals and the society. The ministry has issued a circular asking owners of the shopping centres and companies to get licenses before starting any sorts of the promotional activities and giving rebates etc. It is not new that such promotions have many times misunderstood and proved misleading. This is the reason the initiative taken by the ministry should be welcomed and appreciated.

The means used for promotions at the entrances of the shopping centres, posters and pamphlets as well as the materials disseminated through social media is changing along with the changes in the form of electronic media channels. It is natural. But their regulation and organisation of such schemes in the correct manner is required so that they are not misunderstanding. It is important for consumers that the message reaches them is clear and straight forward manner without any requirement of interpretation. Otherwise, there would always be chances of misunderstanding.

The ministry’s circular has sparked reactions in some of the social media circles which ignored the brighter and positive aspect of this initiative. This circular which was meant for regulating promotional activities had protected interests of all sides. The ministry seriously works with the principle ‘don’t harm and don’t get harmed’ as envisaged by the Sultanate.

There is no doubt that the advertisements in all countries of the world are regulated and licensed by the authorities. This practice has many objectives, most important of them is to safeguard the credibility of the shopping centres which go for promotions and protect the interests of the consumers as well. This helps in avoiding misunderstanding and unhealthy as well as improper practices.

The circular issued by the ministry is related to establishments which go for promotions through social media. It wanted that for such promotions also proper licenses should be taken as for the traditional form of promotions. It declares that organising rebates and promotional offer schemes without proper licenses would be considered illegal and suitable legal action would be taken against them. This regulatory activity is purely to protect the society from being misled by promotions.

One of the most important objectives of licensing for discounts is to ensure that some products being offered under such schemes are not damaged or are not being disposed due to their expiry of validity. This is important for protection of consumers and the commercial system of the Sultanate.

The circular issued by the ministry was not for regulating the advertising, but it is for the owners of the shopping centres and companies urging them to work under the promotional norms of the ministry. It was noticed recently that some of the commercial establishments were offering promotional schemes on social media without any licenses. This is violation of the ministerial order No 239/2013. The Article 3 of the order says that it is not allowed for the commercial, industrial or services establishments to offer promotional schemes or advertise them without required permits or license of the ministry.

Not only this, but article 11 of the ministerial order No 129/2015 which was amended by ministerial order No 218/2015 states that it is not allowed to announce the discounts by means of publicity and publication before obtaining licenses. In all cases, the announcement must include first and last date of the reductions and its percentage as well as its minimum and highest limits. All the details published in this regard should be in the same font size. The Article 6 of the law related to holding exhibitions also says that for its announcement on any media platforms a license should be taken.