RIYADH: A total of 313 car showrooms were fined for not putting fuel economy cards on the vehicles ready for sale.
Fuel economy labels tell buyers the expected milage and associated costs of running each particular vehicle. Registered motor vehicle traders are required to print labels to display on vehicles for sale and provide fuel economy information on all sales websites, too.
The violations were detected when Ministry of Commerce and Investment (MCI) inspection teams visited 1,440 vehicle showrooms and exhibitions around the Kingdom on Shawwal 12-16.
The efforts of the MCI field inspection teams follow a plan prepared by the Saudi Program for Energy Efficiency to set and authenticate fuel economy cards and observe compliance with the regulations that oblige the seller to display the card on the vehicle.
The plan is the result of a collaboration between four government organisations including the Customs Department, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation, the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center and the MCI.
The inspection teams made their tours in the Eastern Province, Central Region, Northern Region, Makkah, Madinah and Qassim to make sure that the fuel economy cards were being displayed with accurate information.
The exposed violations included 136 violations of not displaying the cards at all, 42 violations of misplacing the card, 15 violations of non-conformity to the uniform card designs, 117 cards which were printed in mono color and two violations in which incorrect information was shown on the cards.
An MCI official said the ministry will not tolerate any deviation from the regulations and will be quick to apply the penalties on violators who do not follow the procedures. The ministry has also urged all the consumers to report their complaints to the consumer call center using the number “1900” or through the mobile application called “commercial report.”
313 vehicle showrooms penalized for violations
