Dubai to keep closer eye on electrical appliances

Accidents involving electrical home appliances have forced the Dubai Central Laboratory Department to get tough with vendors who sell substandard products.

"We are in the process of developing a registration and monitoring scheme to ensure that only quality electrical home appliances are sold in the market," said Salah Abdulrahman Amiri, Director of Dubai Central Laboratory Department (DCLD) at Dubai Municipality.

Using internationally accepted safety standards, the DCLD has already started studying the product safety and reliability of electrical home appliances, he said.

"Our electrical testing laboratory will be ready within the next six months," he said. If anyone has an accident with an electrical appliance, complaints can be filed with DCLD, he said.

"We will investigate each case to ensure public safety is maintained and action is taken against those selling substandard appliances," Amiri told Gulf News during an interview.

Local Order No 10, 2003 on the conditions for the technical requirements for electrical equipment has already been issued by the Dubai Government to protect consumers, he said.

Qasim Sultan, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, also issued an administrative order in April to ensure the law is implemented.

"It is not an easy task to enforce this law immediately because there are more than 3,577 electrical appliances from different manufacturers being sold in Dubai," he said.

During initial studies, the appliances have been categorised into five major groups: cooking appliances (23.23 per cent); heating appliances (45.07 per cent); cooling appliances (8.67 per cent); motor-operated appliances (18.79 per cent) and connectors (4.24 per cent).

"We have already completed study on two categories, including connectors and heating appliances and found that the majority of the brands of connectors and heaters are not up to the set safety standards. We will continue the market study on the safety of other appliances and hope to finish it by the end of 2007.

"Once the study of all the products is done, we will strictly enforce the law making sure that only quality home appliances that follow approved safety standards are sold in the market," he said.

They would also hold meetings with importers, wholesalers and traders to educate them about the Local Order and to inform them about the approved safety standards for their electrical home appliances, Amiri said.

"We will issue a list of standard and safe appliances for the benefit of customers once the study is completed," he said, adding the list would be available on the internet as well.

Inspectors will be responsible for checking appliances that are sold at all stores. The department will also coordinate with various government department, including Dubai police and the civil defence to implement the local order.

As per the order, fines of Dh1,000 to Dh30,000 will be imposed on vendors who break the law. The fine will double if the same violation is repeated.

Under the law, the violator must either re-export appliances that do not conform to the set standard or destroy them at their own expense. It also authorises the authority to close the shop for not more than three months and even cancel the trade licence.