DED, Souq.com sign MOU strengthening co-operation on consumer and IP rights protection

The Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED) and Middle East-based online retail and marketplace platform Souq.com have announced a major strategic initiative to strengthen their co-operation on a number of areas with a key focus on consumer protection rights. CCCP and Souq.com have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which aims at jointly developing programmes for the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights and consumer rights.

The MOU was signed by CCCP CEO Mohammad Lootah and Ronaldo Mouchawar, Souq.com CEO and co-founder.The collaboration aims at introducing innovative measures to tackle problems generally faced by online businesses to ensure growing trust in online transactions among e-consumers in the UAE.

CCCP has long been involved in the management of counterfeit products in the UAE and their influx in the online trade. Actively involved in protecting consumer rights in the Middle East, CCCP has been working closely with Souq.com for many years. CCCP has also been implementing tougher measures against counterfeiting in various sectors and with the new headway Souq.com and CCCP will ensure that the e-commerce continues to grow, while improving transparency.

“In line with the smart governance vision of Dubai, we have expanded our vigil to the e-commerce space to prevent traders from using the online medium to promote counterfeit goods,” Lootah says. “We are pleased to support Souq.com in this initiative. And we are confident that this will enhance consumer trust in the region’s thriving e-commerce sector and drive further growth of the economy.”

“Souq.com’s success as the largest e-commerce platform in the Middle East is attributed to robust customer trust, which is of immense value to our business. Souq.com operates as a marketplace platform for various small-to-medium sellers who can directly sell products to consumers. Our sellers gain great value, convenience and training being on our platform,” observes Mouchawar.

“This immense opportunity that Souq.com offers to growing entrepreneurs does indeed present challenges to business. Large e-commerce players in the world are also facing the same challenges and being the leader, we are bringing the best practices to address those common issues such as counterfeits, IP violation and so on,” he adds. “The sheer volume of e-commerce business requires Souq.com to think of new strategies to safeguard customers’ and brand owners’ interests and exercise stricter control over certain seller engagement. Therefore, co-operation with CCCP is a major strategic step for Souq.com.”

The areas identified by CCCP and Souq.com in which CCCP will guide Souq.com are sharing of best practices, training to Souq.com employees on identifying and tracking counterfeit goods on the platform, swift action plans to support Souq.com when sellers on the platform engage in any unfair trade practices and establishing joint public relations and disaster recovery programmes.