Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) has announced results of its inspections for controlled products, measurement scales and pre-packaged products in Abu Dhabi’s markets for the Q1 2019
About 16,524 samples of various controlled products were inspected including toys, electrical appliances, tires, tobacco products and household cleaning products. Based on the inspections, the QCC took corrective action on six products with a total of 2,108 units and recalled a further 32 products with a total of 4,120 units that were not compliant with QCC quality and safety requirements.
As part of its efforts to provide a safer and fairer market in Abu Dhabi and within the authorisation agreement signed by the council and the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), QCC verified the accuracy of 2,900 legal measuring instruments and the accuracy of packaged quantity labelling for 5,752 pre-packaged units of 179 food products from factories, suppliers and markets.
The verified legal measuring instruments included retail scales, jewellery and precious metal scales, Arabian perfume scales, weighing platforms, trade shipping scales and fuel-pump meters at ADNOC Distribution service stations.
The council encourages companies and employees in the industrial and commercial sectors to apply for the ‘AD Trustmark,’ which promotes the trust of customers in the products. It also contributes to the council's efforts to establish Abu Dhabi Emirate as a world-class investment destination with quality infrastructure.
The Q1 inspections included checks on various home electronic appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines; kitchen appliances including electric kettles, deep fryers, grills and ovens, as well as personal care products such as electric shavers, among others.
QCC inspectors verified the compliance of the products with international quality and safety standards as well as technical specifications. They also checked whether the appliances held the Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme (ECAS) certificate issued by the ESMA.
In addition, requirements stipulate that all electrical home appliances should be fitted with a three-pin plug and energy-intensive devices such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and dryers must carry the energy efficiency label from ESMA to indicate their energy efficiency rating.
Children's toys, cigarette and tobacco products, household detergents and vehicle tyres were also inspected for compliance with quality and safety requirements, as per QCC specifications and technical regulations.
QCC Inspectors issue warnings to outlets retailing non-compliant products and temporarily withdraw them from circulation until corrective measures are adopted to ensure conformance, before allowing them to resume sales. They visited a number of factories and commercial entities to check pre-packaged products and verified 5,752 samples of 179 different products including locally manufactured and imported food products, detergents and personal care products.
The council urges consumers to look for the gold verification marks on scales and fuel-pump meters before making any purchases and to report the use of instruments that have a red seal indicating non-compliance to the relevant department.
