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A workshop entitled ‘Mandatory Requirements for Pre-packages’ was conducted by Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) on 27 May, 2014 at QCC headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The workshop drew over 100 participants from food industry, importers of canned products and a number of officials from various government entities in Abu Dhabi Emirate.
In his speech, His Excellency Abdulla Abdulla Al Khoori, Executive Director, Consumer & Market Services, on the importance of the workshop in achieving QCC’s strategic objectives of ensuring a fairer and safer market and providing all necessary protection for dealers, manufacturers and consumers alike. The initiative also articulates QCC’s priorities to ensure the precision of quantities and accuracy of measurements used in trading pre-packaged goods. He added that compliance with mandatory and international requirements for pre-packaged products in terms of their quantity and product information will help boost the competitiveness of products manufactured in the UAE and their penetration into international markets, especially Europe.
Al Khoori also noted that the aim of the workshop was also to promote surveillance on pre-packaged items that make up over 70 per cent of food products traded in the UAE market. This necessitates strict monitoring of packed products for their quality and quantity to ensure consumer protection by obliging manufacturers and suppliers to adhere to international quality specifications for such products as well as relevant laws and regulations in the UAE.
Al Khoori appreciated the ongoing cooperation between QCC and Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology and other federal and local agencies concerned with consumer protection. In this regard, he stressed the keenness of QCC to lay down effective market surveillance measures to achieve fair competition among manufacturers and traders, strengthen confidence in various economic sectors, improve the quality and performance of markets and ensure that non-conforming products with the mandatory technical regulations do not enter the UAE markets.
The workshop highlighted the technical requirements for quantity of pre-packaged products as well as the criteria set by provisions of Law No. 1/5 of 2009 or accepting or rejecting goods imported to the UAE markets or manufactured locally.
Reiterating the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors in developing and promoting locally made products, Al Khoori urged all concerned to cooperate with QCC and support its efforts to verify the technical specification of products at factories, warehouses and supplier locations according to the latest international practices.
The workshop included a panel discussion between participants and QCC officials who answered their questions and queries relating to the mandatory requirements for pre-packaged items and mechanism of implementation.
At the end of the workshop, Khalaf Khalifa Almazrouei, Legal Metrology Director at QCC, outlined the procedures followed by the Council in monitoring and verifying packages at factories and urged all concerned to cooperate with QCC to improve the quality infrastructure in Abu Dhabi.
He added that the workshop is part of a series of workshops conducted by QCC to increase awareness and disseminate knowledge about the functions and services of QCC. More of such workshops dealing with various sectors will be held in future to cover all regions of Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council was established in 2009 to represent the regulatory authorities in Abu Dhabi and raise the quality of the emirate’s exports and locally traded products. QCC works towards promoting a culture of quality, driving the emirate’s industrial development, supporting the competitiveness of its economy and protecting the rights of customers. These objectives are achieved through empowering regulators to establish and implement product safety, legal metrology and conformity schemes. QCC also sets guidelines and benchmarks to identify and verify that the products manufactured and traded in Abu Dhabi conform to the highest quality standards.
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