Dammam - Amlak
His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province, called on the Eastern Chamber to adopt an initiative that serves the region and benefits the people, leaving them to determine the identity of that initiative and its date. During the opening of the Sharqiya Commercial Forum 2013 organized by the Eastern Chamber last week, His Royal Highness stressed the keenness of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to provide all support and facilities for the business sector in all its fields, and said in a speech to the attendees of the forum: «Perhaps I find it important here to refer to many indicators that reflect the Kingdom's growth and its role in the global economic organization, and in its regional and Arab surroundings, especially the growth of serious investments that add distinction to the region and serve the national economy in many indicators that reflect the development of the investment environment of our economy, which gives us much optimism about the strength of the Saudi economy and its strength and prosperous future.»

Objectives of the Forum
The President of the Eastern Chamber Abdulrahman Al-Rashed explained that one of the objectives of this forum is to identify the outlines of combating some of the negative phenomena that accompanied the local commercial activity such as commercial fraud and cover-up, overcoming common obstacles to commercial activities, enhancing competition in the Eastern Province market between different commercial sectors, and developing some commercial activities such as re-export activity,» he added that this forum comes within the efforts of the Eastern Chamber to develop commercial activity and monitor the most important and prominent features and obstacles that limit its movement and continued growth.


«Trade Agent: »Commercial fraud» is a deception that requires control
The Assistant Undersecretary for Control Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Fahad Al Hudhaili defined commercial fraud as practices based on misinformation and deception in the marketing of goods and products. The openness of markets, the diversity of goods and the difference in their quality level resulted in the spread of fraud in all its forms and forms and included all goods and services, which requires legislation that protects societies from it.
He reviewed the efforts exerted by the Ministry in combating commercial fraud, which are concentrated in conducting inspection tours to control violations of the law, receiving complaints about fraud and fraud, in addition to field teams conducting monitoring tours on factories to verify the safety of their products and their conformity with specifications, and withdrawing samples of questionable goods and subjecting them to examination and analysis. He stressed that commercial fraud comes by deceiving by describing, displaying or marketing the product with false or deceptive information contrary to its truth, in addition to counterfeiting trademarks, noting that fraud has material, economic and health damages.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce explained that it is possible to identify adulterated goods or products according to any change or modification to any product in itself, its nature or elements, or in its data, such as its source or country of production or its value, whether in weight, quantity, size, number or energy.

Customs« : We expanded our inspection systems
Advisor to the Director General of the Saudi Customs Authority, Issa Al-Issa, spoke about the role of customs in facilitating movement, saying that it is »the appropriate tool to supervise the entry and exit of goods, means of transportation, and individuals to and from the Kingdom to ensure that this is done in accordance with the applicable regulations, as well as protecting the homeland and society from risks that threaten health and security,« and noted that the authority is working on implementing a single window system that contains sites for a number of relevant authorities such as the Quality Quality Laboratory, the Standards and Metrology Authority, the Food and Drug Authority, animal and plant quarantine, the General Presidency of Meteorology and Environmental Protection, and the National Authority. Work is underway to develop programs for similar buildings in each seaport and other ports of entry. Al-Issa emphasized that in the framework of facilitating the clearance process for incoming containers, Customs is expanding the provision of radiation inspection systems to cover all Saudi customs ports, there are about 88 fixed and mobile systems for containers and trucks, 71 detectors for radioactive and nuclear materials, 793 cameras for inspection, and the adoption of payment of fees via the Internet, phone banking or ATM, and the direct clearance system.

Direct clearance system.

Production Restrictions
The Secretary General of the Council for the Protection of Competition, Dr. Mohammed Al-Qasim, said that the Council sought to find solutions to activate its role by ensuring that the Council enjoys legal personality, financial and administrative independence, and that its employees are subject to the labor system, so that it can obtain sufficient financial resources and attract qualified and distinguished competencies, stressing the need to include a provision not to refer the violating establishment to the separation committee if it cooperates and provides evidence that reveals its partners in the violation, and this is in line with international practices where this policy is an effective tool in detecting monopolistic entities and obtaining direct evidence and also link a fine of a penny. Al-Qasim explained that the number of complaints and initiatives that reached the Council amounted to 27 complaints and initiatives, while the cases submitted to the adjudication committee amounted to 32 cases, and the number of defendant establishments amounted to 101 establishments, the number of initial decisions issued 16 decisions, and the number of convicted establishments amounted to 34 establishments.
In his paper entitled »The Competition Law and its role in enhancing the competitive capabilities of commercial establishments«, the Secretary General of the Council referred to some measures that impose restrictions on the market, such as »dividing markets or customers" or that impose restrictions on production, or sales by quotas, and in sectors where there is a surplus, with the aim of raising prices.

The Secretary General of the Council pointed out that the competition law and its role in enhancing the competitiveness of commercial establishments. <Procedures and events
For his part, Secretary General of the Eastern Chamber Abdul Rahman Al-Wabel pointed out that the forum discussed - over the course of three sessions and through 8 specialized working papers - a number of themes, most notably (trade movement in light of economic globalization, procedures in ports and their contribution to trade growth, commercial systems and enhancing competitiveness), where a number of detailed topics were discussed under these axes.

Honoring the Chamber and Sponsors
During the forum, the Emir of the Eastern Province honored the Eastern Chamber of Commerce, where the award was received by the President of the Chamber, and honored the sponsoring companies and the commercial and governmental entities participating in the forum.