Dubai: The UAE government will take tougher action to ban products offensive to religions or insult the customs and the culture of the emirates, Dr. Hashim Al Nuaimi, Head of Consumer Protection Department at the Ministry of Economy, told Gulf News.
He said: “After several meeting with the economic department, chamber of commerce, municipalities, customs authorities of the seven emirates, an intensive inspection campaign will be launched across the emirates to confiscate all products offensive to religion and insult the UAE traditions.”
Al Nuaimi believed that there has been an increase recently in the amount of offensive products being sold in the UAE market.
These products includes, toys, clothes and some food items, he added.
He added that the ministry had seen a number of toys and clothes that featured offensive writing and drawings.
Two days ago, the Economic Development Department in Sharjah confiscated a PlayStation game from the markets that has offensive content.
Such toys, Al Nuaimi warned, are harming the upbringing of the nation’s children as well as insult the UAE traditions.
Mohammad Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehi, Undersecretary, UAE Ministry of Economy, said that there is already a law prohibiting import of products to the country that are offensive to religion or even insult the UAE customs and tradition.
Despite the fact that such products are rare in the market, all government departments including municipality, customs authority, and economic department should join efforts and work closely to avoid to the infiltration of this offensive items.
Pointing to the action the ministry takes against the traders who are selling these products, Al Shehi said: “In many cases, traders found selling these products were not aware that they contain offensive material. In other cases, heavy fine will be imposed on violators.”
