The Economy reviews efforts and plans to control commodity prices during Ramadan
Abu Dhabi, 11 February / WAM / The Ministry of Economy and Tourism reviewed its new efforts and plans to enhance control over the prices of products, goods and services in the country’s markets and ensure the protection of consumer rights during the holy month of Ramadan, during a media briefing it organized today at its headquarters in Dubai, in the presence of His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism.
His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq stressed that the UAE, thanks to the directives of its wise leadership, has succeeded in achieving a distinct qualitative leap in developing the legislative and regulatory environment for consumer protection, which reflects its commitment to enhancing consumer rights and confidence in the country’s markets, which contributes to supporting sustainable economic growth and developing a fair and transparent trade system based on the best practices followed globally.
In his speech at the media briefing, His Excellency said that the Ministry of Economy and Tourism worked to accelerate national efforts in coordination with relevant government agencies at the federal and local levels, especially through the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection, in addition to enhancing effective communication and cooperation with the cooperative sector, the private sector, and all stakeholders, to raise compliance rates with consumer protection legislation and policies in all sales outlets in the country’s markets, enable sound commercial practices, and enhance control over goods and products in the markets.
His Excellency added: “We are keen to provide a suitable and safe environment for the consumer when purchasing goods and products or receiving services, allowing him to meet all his needs for goods and services, guaranteeing his rights, and issuing competitive laws and policies that have contributed to providing integrated regulatory mechanisms and procedures to ensure real protection for the consumer, while enhancing stability and balance in the local markets.
His Excellency explained that at the forefront of this legislation comes Federal Decree Law No. 5 of 2023 amending some provisions of Law No. 15 of 2020 regarding consumer protection, and its executive regulations, which together constitute a turning point in developing the regulatory system and creating a balanced relationship between the supplier and the consumer, by placing more than 43 obligations on suppliers, to ensure the application of the highest standards of protection for consumers, and to enhance the effectiveness of deterrent measures against any transgression or violation, as well as achieving satisfaction. Consumer happiness and well-being in a fair and safe trading environment.
His Excellency pointed out that to complement this supervisory role, the Ministry has strengthened the mechanisms for controlling price stability by issuing the “Pricing Policy for Basic Consumer Goods” and the decisions emanating from it. This policy prohibits raising the prices of 9 basic commodity categories, including “cooking oils, eggs, dairy, rice, sugar, poultry, legumes, bread, and wheat,” without obtaining prior approval from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, while the rest of the commodities are subject to the rules of supply and demand, market mechanisms, and competition.
His Excellency noted that the issuance of Federal Decree Law No. (14) of 2023 regarding trade through modern technology means contributed to regulating and developing the field of digital commerce within the country’s markets, clarifying the guaranteed rights of the consumer, including providing adequate technical protection means to enable the consumer to purchase goods and services securely through modern technology means, and providing secure digital payment means and channels, in accordance with the technical and regulatory standards and requirements approved or specified by the competent authority and not imposing additional fees, and protecting data and information in accordance with what was regulated by them. Multiple legislations include regulatory, professional, and technical requirements to achieve data ownership, classification, reliability, and data security.
The Council of Ministers also issued Resolution No. (200) of 2025, regarding a list of violations and administrative penalties regarding acts committed in violation of the provisions of Federal Decree Law No. (14) of 2023 regarding trade through modern technological means.
His Excellency stressed that the strategic stockpile in the UAE is highly efficient and comprehensive, while ensuring continuous supply over the long term. With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, the country’s markets are witnessing a large supply of goods and products, especially strategic goods, as the Ministry is keen to meet all the needs of consumers and ensure that they obtain goods easily and in the required quantities, without any unjustified price increases.
His Excellency added that the UAE is adopting the best policies to provide a strategic stock of all basic commodities needed by citizens, residents and visitors in the country in abundant and sufficient quantities for long periods, with clear directives and unlimited support from the wise leadership of the country.
In this context, His Excellency highlighted the Ministry’s efforts and its action plan to enhance control over the prices of products and commodities in the country’s markets during the holy month of Ramadan, the most prominent of which is periodic follow-up to ensure the availability of basic commodities in large and sufficient quantities and not to raise their prices, in coordination with local economic development departments and suppliers in all seven emirates of the country, and holding 26 meetings with major suppliers and importers to ensure the flow of basic commodities in sufficient quantities. The Ministry intends to carry out 420 inspection tours and field visits to sales outlets during Ramadan to monitor prices, the extent of commitment to implementing pricing policies, and preventing commercial exploitation, while taking urgent legal measures in the event of any illegal violations.
His Excellency said that the Ministry will launch a series of intensive awareness campaigns in cooperation with economic development departments to spread a conscious consumer culture during the Holy Month, which includes publishing a consumer rights guide through social media platforms to clarify basic consumer rights and rationalize consumption through awareness of avoiding waste and ensuring the availability of goods for all. Enhancing consumer communication to receive complaints and comments and respond to inquiries immediately.
Through this plan, the Ministry will work to strengthen its efforts in cooperation with its partners to enforce consumer protection legislation and decisions, in addition to educating consumers about the legislative system for consumer protection in the country, and the pricing policy for basic consumer goods, in a way that supports enhancing knowledge and awareness among consumers of all their rights and obligations when purchasing goods and products, and helping them to carry out sound consumer practices.
During the holy month of Ramadan, the Ministry’s work teams will also follow up and monitor the initiatives announced by a large group of consumer cooperatives and sales outlets in the country, related to discount campaigns on the prices of goods and products, in the various branches of these associations and outlets, as the percentages of discounts on some products in cooperative societies reached approximately 50%.. It also included promotional offers for basic goods and products, in some sales outlets and cooperative societies during the month of Ramadan 2026, in addition to basket offers. Ramadan, which includes a group of basic commodities that families need during the holy month, such as sugar, rice, flour, grains, oils, legumes, and milk.
As part of the efforts of the Ministry of Economy and Tourism to activate real-time control and follow-up on prices in sales outlets and ensure compliance with approved pricing policies, an electronic system was developed to monitor prices, allowing automatic and continuous tracking of prices, and enabling control teams to monitor any violations or unjustified changes.
This system relies on a direct technical connection with major sales outlets, as these outlets provide the system with price lists on a regular basis, to be analyzed and compared with reference prices, and to monitor the prices of consumer goods daily, and determine any deviation from the specified price ceiling to ensure market stability and consumer protection.
The Ministry’s electronic price monitoring system is linked to 627 major sales outlets, which are a wide chain of consumer cooperatives, hypermarkets and large stores, which represent more than 90% of the volume of internal trade of basic consumer goods in the seven emirates of the country, and it will play a pivotal role in monitoring prices directly during Ramadan.
The Ministry warned against carrying out any violations or illegal practices, such as increasing the prices of the nine basic consumer commodities, whether by the merchant or the supplier individually and without obtaining prior approval from the Ministry, or tampering with data on the goods and withholding information from the Ministry, or providing misleading data to the Ministry that affects the obstruction of the monitoring process, or a prior agreement between the supplier and the merchant to raise prices collectively.
The system for implementing administrative penalties and fines in the Ministry relies on a gradual approach in procedures that aims to correct violations and enhance compliance with applicable legislation, taking into account the nature and seriousness of the violation, the extent of its recurrence, and its impact on the market and the consumer.
The procedures include – depending on the type of violation – issuing a written warning and giving the violator a period to correct the situation, or imposing financial fines starting from 500 dirhams and up to 100 thousand dirhams, in addition to the possibility of taking other administrative measures such as temporarily closing the facility for varying periods, and in serious cases or when the violation is repeated, it may lead to taking more severe measures commensurate with the gravity of the violation.
At the level of monitoring markets and sales outlets to measure the extent of merchants’ compliance with the decisions issued by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism related to prices, the relevant teams of the Ministry and the economic development departments in various state markets during the year 2025 carried out approximately 155,218 inspection tours, resulting in 7,702 violations. These tours monitored the placement of price stickers and monitored the quality of products offered to consumers, as well as ensuring the prevention of cases of commercial fraud and trademark infringement.
The Ministry received 3,167 complaints through its website over the past year. These complaints were dealt with with high efficiency, and 93.9% of them were resolved, which reflects the effectiveness of the electronic system and the speed of response of the competent authorities in protecting consumer rights.
During the past year, the Ministry received 130 recall requests for products and goods, according to which 551,976 goods were recovered, which reflects the continuous monitoring of the quality and safety of products and ensuring consumer protection.
The Ministry called on consumers to adhere to conscious purchasing practices, such as keeping invoices and matching them with what was purchased, as it is the basic guarantee of their rights.
The Ministry encourages interaction with regulatory authorities and communicating with them through its official channels to submit complaints or report harmful practices.
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism confirmed that its efforts are continuing to develop the consumer protection environment and guarantee their rights according to the best standards, in cooperation with the relevant authorities, in a way that enhances the competitiveness of the national economy and makes the UAE market a sustainable destination for major brands.
For her part, Her Excellency Safia Al Safi, Assistant Undersecretary for the Commercial Control and Governance Sector at the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, on the sidelines of the media briefing, that the Ministry has intensified its preparations in cooperation with local economic departments ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, by carrying out field tours at sales outlets to ensure the availability of basic goods, not raising prices, and adhering to announced promotional offers, in addition to verifying the clarity of price labels and their availability in the Arabic language, combating commercial fraud, and protecting trademarks.
She added that the Ministry dealt with about 155,000 complaints nationwide during the year 2025, of which more than 93% were resolved, with an average processing time ranging between 3 and 4 days, stressing that these efforts come within an integrated system to protect the consumer, especially during seasons that witness a rise in demand such as the month of Ramadan and the holidays.
For his part, Ahmed Ahli, Director of the Tourism Activities Control Department and Acting Director of the Consumer Protection Department at the Dubai Foundation for Consumer Protection and Fair Trade, told WAM that the work teams carried out more than 220 supervisory visits to sales outlets in the emirate in preparation for the holy month of Ramadan, in addition to holding meetings with electronic sales outlets to ensure the availability of primary and secondary products, price stability, and the credibility of the offers and discounts offered during the holy month.
He added that the monitoring campaigns during Ramadan are being qualitatively intensified to ensure the availability of goods in the quantities needed by the market, the clarity of the prices offered, and the transparency of promotional offers.
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