The UAE Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection has warned strict action against those restaurants that collect illegal service charges from customers across the emirates.

The warning from Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and chairman of the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection, came following complaints that some restaurants were charging as much as 5 to 20 per cent of the bill as service charge.

Al Mansouri, who headed the fourth meeting of the Committee for 2009 in Dubai, said the members had recommended the implementation of Article 3 of the Consumer Protection Law against violators.

The committee has also called upon all government departments to take actions against restaurants that collect the illegal service charge.

The committee also discussed the report of consumer’s complaints.

Al Mansouri pointed out that the consumer protection department had received 2,400 complaints from January to November 2009 'of which 60 per cent were related to the prices increase and 32 per cent about cars.'

'Other complaints were in connection with mobile phones, electronics, tyres, real-estate and others,' he added.

The commitee was told that all the complaints were resolved by the department with 70 of them handled through special committees and five transferred to concerned courts.

Accoring to Al MAnsouri, the council later discussed measures to manage food prices besides the latest updates of the early alert system.

“We have succeeded in creating equilibrium and stability in the UAE markets. The committee is exerting tremendous efforts to monitor prices and prevent any price manipulation attempts by co-ordinating with local concerned government departments all over the UAE,” Al Mansouri noted.

Other important issues discussed included updates on the early alert system to ensure that prices of essential goods are managed effectively.

The Ministry has signed an MoU with local Customs departments in the UAE to provide data on the activity of basic commodities.

The committee also recommended implementing the first stage of the alert system by linking the Customs departments together to exchange information on imports and exports of various commodities.

The system aims to investigate the reasons behind the shortage of commodities globally, and device means to prevent unprecedented price rises due to supply fluctuations in the international markets, he added.-TradeArabia News Service