Standards enhances the work of the unified team for consumer  protection

Under the auspices of the Attorney General and Customs،

Ms. Rahba Saeed Abdullah, Director General of the Sudanese Organization for Standardization and Metrology, announced the launch of the project of a series of focused educational guidance campaigns for 2023, which aims to educate consumers, apply standards, combat drugs and negative violations phenomena with the strategic workforce on a specific area for each project to cover the whole state by the end of the year in partnership with localities, administrative units, community committees, and educational councils.

The announcement of the project was made during the opening of a training course organized by the Sudanese Authority  Specifications and standards for the unified team within the mechanism of consumer reports under the slogan: awareness first.

“We are all responsible in the presence of the relevant authorities,” Abdullah said, expressing her happiness that the Authority will start the year 2023 with such an important event, which brings together the state agencies concerned with consumer protection, government, and civil society organizations.

She said that the increasing consumption of goods and services has made it necessary for the Authority to seek to educate consumers on their rights and duties through the formation and activation of the National Committee for Consumer Affairs in the center and the states.

For his part, Justice Mahmoud Sayed Ahmed, representative of the Attorney General of the Republic of Sudan, affirmed his support and interest in the Consumer Protection Prosecution, providing aid to it and logistical support so that it plays its role to the fullest in preparation for cooperation with all consumer partners, revealing enforcement of 27 national laws and 5 laws related to the regulation of trade, prevention of monopoly and fair competition.

Ahmed said that the prosecution’s laws are concerned with specifications, standards, quality, the validity of foods, drinks, medicines, production inputs, regulation of trade and markets, and prevention of accidents.

And the environment and public health by applying 120 legislations and supported in their work by the Consumer Protection Police, Environment and Public Health, through the registration of criminal supports in the face of violators and follow-up until the courts and the organization of joint campaigns to control violations in coordination with consumer protection partners from the executive and security authorities.

For his part, Major General Mohammed Al-Bader Al-Sinari, representative of the Director General of the Sudanese Customs Authority, said that customs has been working in full coordination with specifications, standards, consumer protection, police, prosecution, and the Ministry of Health in raising awareness and protecting the consumer against practices harmful to his health and economies with a team of an integrated system that works with each other in complete harmony, expressing his happiness to participate in this important forum, in which all relevant authorities play a pivotal role, adding that the citizen himself is one of the most important pillars of this, stressing the role of customs in maintaining the national economy through seizures of many counterfeit goods and goods that come through smuggling through documents or by combating smuggling, all of which are prohibited goods and in violation of the Sudanese Standards Law.

For his part, Dr. Nasr El-Din Shalgamy, Chairman of the National Committee for Consumer Affairs, praised the role of the Standards Authority, which contributes effectively to consumer protection through the development and application of standard specifications and continuous control through its competent departments and branches and its sponsorship of the National Committee for Consumer Affairs in the center and the states, adding that the Authority allocated the number 5960 to listen to the consumer’s complaint and works to find solutions in coordination with the Consumer Prosecution, Supply Investigations and the components of the unified team in a series of interconnected episodes.

Shalgamy said the course enhances interest in the unified team to extend awareness, knowledge, and access to information and acquire basic skills to deal with consumer reports and complaints, recommending the team ensure relations based on cooperation, ethics, and responsibility. He thanked the authority, which puts the consumer in mind, the customs authority, the deputy, and the public.

It is worth mentioning that the team receives several lectures presented by the Standards, Consumer Prosecution, Supply and Consumer Investigations, the Ministry of Health, Khartoum State, the Sudanese Customs Authority, the General Administration of Drugs, Drugs, and Poisons, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Agency for Consumer Protection and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Khartoum State.