English abstract
The present study addresses by research and scrutinization the substantive aspects related to the punitive consumer protection. It, at first, describes what is a consumer, according to the jurisprudence and judiciary. It discusses the historical and legislative development in the scope of such protection, referring to the status in the Omani Law. Then, it tackles the scope of the punitive liability in the offenses of the consumer protection, whether to the natural or legal persons. The present study also refers to certain offenses, which have occurred to consumers, by considering the punitive legislations relevant to the Sultanate of Oman. The present study, naturally, cannot cover all offenses or examples that may occur to consumers.
Finally, the origin of the discussion will rely on setting out the rules of punishment in the offenses of the consumer protection and the mechanism for acting on them, whether by what is known as the punitive conciliation system or by issuing penal orders.The researcher used descriptive, analytical and comparative methods in this study.
The study has reached a set of findings, the most prominent of which is that:
1. The Legislator has adopted an extensive trend to define a consumer. It has included a person who carries out a trade. It has not set forth the joint liability of the natural persons or the penal responsibility for the actions of others. In the same context, the consumer protection legislations have deviated from the general frame of the moral element by adopting the presumption of the assumed knowledge in creating the responsibility against a provider.
2. There are various aspects of the consumer protection, such as the protection from counterfeit and unpermitted goods, misleading advertisements, and monopoly, and guaranteeing the consumer right of abandonment and warrantee, according to specific conditions.
3. Some provisions do not contain punitive terms, in case of violating the obligations of a provider, which must be rectified, particularly in the Consumer Protection Law. There is also no provision concerning the attempt to such offenses.
4. The legislator did not decide on detailed provisions on the criminal justice system in the crimes of consumer protection, but some provisions were given under the terms of settlements under certain conditions, which were detailed in the executive regulations of the Consumer Protection Law.
