Damascus-Sana
The Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection has issued a number of decisions related to commercial activities, materials and goods that it offers in the markets and the mechanism for following-up violators of the provisions of these decisions in accordance with the penalties stipulated in Legislative Decree No. 8 of 2021
According to one of the decisions that SANA obtained a copy of, the Ministry prohibited the owners of commercial activities from dealing with expired or corrupt materials and goods in violation of specifications of whatever kind, as the decision included a mechanism for the owners of activities to act with these materials in coordination with the Directorate of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection in the governorate and how to organize invoices for these materials When returned, returned or destroyed.
Another decision of the ministry included specifications for "seasonal and final liquidations and special offers" for goods of various kinds, and specifying the times and conditions for each of them.
The Ministry issued a decision prohibiting importers and producers to refrain from providing customs data and documents necessary to study the cost of materials and goods imported or produced by them for workers assigned by the ministry or its sub-directorates.
It is also prohibited for importers, producers and all commercial mediation circles or service providers to refrain from issuing and granting a statutory invoice or giving an irregular invoice when selling to other commercial mediation circles.
The decision stipulated in one of its clauses that wholesalers, semi-wholesalers and retailers should possess purchase invoices or import data for importers of the materials they deal with, so that all kinds of commercial activities are required to be “importer, producer, wholesaler, half wholesale, retail, industrial, craftsman, and service. All organize their sales invoices with "forward cash".
On the other hand, the decision included provisions related to displaying products in sales halls, matters related to the sale of used products, distributors' invoices, and an explanation of the basic information that must be included in the invoice for commercial, industrial, crafts, service and tourism activities.
As for the concerned public authorities, according to the decision, they have the right to issue the appropriate form of the invoice and add a number of necessary items according to the nature of the activity or event in coordination with the ministries of finance, internal trade and consumer protection.
While the decision exempted farmers and peasants from giving an invoice regarding their products, while the merchants of agricultural produce markets were obligated to write a procurement statement of the materials purchased from farmers or peasants, regardless of their value.
Another decision dealt with defining what is meant by “gross violations, food additives, and Syrian specifications and their amendments,” and defining the types of violations of food and non-food items.
The decision also specified the strict measures that the consumer protection departments must take in coordination with the leadership of the Internal Security Forces in the governorates to pursue violators and limit serious violations in accordance with the necessary legal procedures and the mechanism for disposing of materials seized from violators.
The Ministry stressed in all the aforementioned decisions that violating the provisions of these decisions will be punished with the penalties stipulated in Legislative Decree No. 8 of 2021.
Ali Ajeeb