JEDDAH: The authority to grant discount licenses will be transferred from the chambers of commerce and industry to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), according to well informed sources.

The step is aimed at putting in place new procedures designed to strictly control the fake and untrue commercial discounts in the Saudi market.

Many consumers lately complained against the increasing numbers of false commercial discounts in local markets, and the ambiguity surrounding such discount offers, which resulted in inflicting harm because of the manipulative practices of shops.

Market data and information indicated some violations from the part of investors concerning the commercial discounts. It was found that the offers granted by some establishments are in violation of the discount licenses in terms of the rates of the discounts, the time period of the offer, or the absence of licenses altogether.

Meanwhile, the ministry investigated the complaints concerning this issue and closed down the shops that proved to have violated the regulations in this regard.

Observers said transferring the powers to grant discount licenses from the chambers of commerce to the ministry and putting in place stricter controls will directly affect the market and consumers alike, and will protect shoppers against any sort of manipulation by shops.

Last year, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah issued a decision to ban announcing the minimum price of a commodity without referring to its cap price.

The ministry explained at the time that the regulation for commercial data stipulated in its first and second articles that the price is considered a commercial data, which should be written in the Arabic language and consistent with the fact, and any violation of these two articles will entail imposing punishments, including a fine of up to SR100,000.

The regulation on penalties and fines is imposed on violation of municipal regulations. The Cabinet in its decision No. 174 dated 27/5/1434 approved its application imposing a fine of SR5,000 for not attaching the price label of any commodity.

The MCI earlier announced it is working on a set of new packages to be provided electronically, including the electronic registration of companies, the service for granting discount licenses and the application of the factories’ guide on smart devices in addition to other services.