Cosmetics manufacturer educates market on authentic goods

"A major contribution towards any company's progress in global markets is the compliance with local regulations. This is particularly true in our kind of business where the health and safety of consumers is of prime importance," said Mr. Prashant Goenka, the director of Emami International.

He added: "We have voluntarily involved ourselves in the Public Health and Safety campaigns whenever we get an opportunity to do so. This has been a key factor in the growth of Emami Limited and its subsidiaries, especially in the U.A.E."

To this end, Emami has involved itself in Dubai Municipality's public health and safety campaign. Dubai Municipality continuously caries out random inspections in supermarkets and groceries which carry cosmetic products.

This is done to ensure that only registered products, which fulfill the safety requirements / standards laid down by Dubai Municipality are sold in the country.

Eng. Salman Redha, the Director of Public Health and Safety at the Dubai Municipality, said, "The safety of our consumer is our major concern. The cosmetic products registered with our cosmetic registration section are strictly verified and pass through stringent safety standards."

Dr. Naseem Mohammed Rafee, Head of Consumer Products Safety at the Dubai Municipality, said, "They do occasionally see the presence of unauthorized and unapproved parallel products on supermarket shelves. These products, from various companies, have usually not been manufactured in accordance with the strict safety standards or guidelines provided by Dubai Municipality and are not produced keeping in mind the climatic conditions, or the cultural and religious requirements of the region. Thus a special emphasis has been given by the Municipality to find ways to curb the entry of such products into the market."

Eng. Salman Redha added that during recent inspections, some quantities of parallel / infiltrated products from some eminent companies including Emami Ltd. 'a leading Indian cosmetics manufacturing company', were found. These were taken off shelves by Municipality Officials and the offending outlets slapped with a fine.

Mr Prashant Goenka, Director of Emami Limited's International Business, said, "Emami adapts each product for the region that it will be sold in, after considering safety factors, statutory specifications and cultural and religious guidelines pertaining to each region. Thus, as a company, we cannot afford to have our products produced for another region enter this market as this could cause inadvertent disappointment to our consumers due to below-par performance. For example, our products made for India are not produced to withstand the extreme hot weather found in the GCC."

He further appreciated Dubai Municipality's efforts in which such parallel products under the brand names 'Fair and Handsome' and 'Navratna Oil', which were not produced for this region, were removed from shelves and a fine of 500 Dhs per product slapped on to supermarkets that shelved them.

"We are grateful for Dubai Municipality's quick response in safeguarding the interest of the consumers and the industry," he said.

Dr. Anas Khalifa, Head of the Cosmetic Safety Team, Dubai Municipality, said, "All products registered by Dubai Municipality can be easily identified due to the mandatory English / Arabic Packaging."

He added, "Dubai Municipality maintains a data of all registered products, and inspectors have full authority to warn supermarkets not following the regulations laid down by the authorities, and slap them with a hefty fine if the products are found to be non compliant or unregistered."

Since the municipality's consumer product assessment scheme began in 2009, a lot of products have been rejected either because they were hazardous or had unsafe packaging.

This article has been published in the public interest in order to create awareness among customers / consumers to assist them in identifying products that are fit for their consumption and usage.