The UAE will begin mandatory application of the unit "gram / milliliter" in the perfume trade in all of the country’s markets, starting today, Thursday, February 20, 2020.

The "specifications" considered the move as a "historical change" in the culture of dealing with units of measurement used in the markets, in a direction to the authority regarding the quality infrastructure file.

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The director of standards administration at "Specifications", Eng. Amina Zainal, stressed that the complementary work between the federal and local government institutions and the private sector contributes directly to enhancing the competitiveness of the state, which managed to jump two ranks, finally, in the "Global Competitiveness Index 2019", according to the report The world issued by the World Economic Forum «Davos», thus maintaining its position among the most competitive global economies.

Zainal said that the authority also launched a website in five languages ​​that are in use, and forms the most used languages ​​among the communities in the UAE, and between traders, suppliers and perfume sellers in the country, which are: Arabic, English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Persian, to educate consumers about the actual values ​​of transferring between a unit « Toula ”and“ Gram / Milliliters ”, to ensure accurate information is provided in more than one language, so that the consumer can learn about the transfer process, quantities and prices. She explained that the decision comes based on Cabinet Resolution No. 31 of 2006 regarding the national system of measurement, which states that the international system of units is considered the basis for legal units of measurement, which must be used exclusively in the state, and to complete the authority’s plan to gradually shift to the use of system units International for measurement, instead of non-international units of measurement.

Awareness campaign

The Director of the Metrology Department added that preparing the national markets was a primary goal for the authority prior to the start of the mandatory application, pointing to developing a set of awareness steps for the targeted segments, including launching an awareness campaign on social media platforms with the change to be applied, and a similar campaign on radio networks, as well as national media platforms , In addition to the launch of a guide website for consumers and merchants to learn about the change from “Al-Toula” to “grams / milliliters” (www.tolachange.ae).

She pointed out that the consumer can enter the website and make a conversion from the “Tula” unit to “gram / milliliter”.

She stated that the historical change came in response to the UAE’s tendencies towards unifying the national measurement units with the internationally recognized units of the international system "SI units", mainly for the units of measurement that should be used exclusively in the country, and the change will be in the interest of both the consumer and the merchant, in terms of repayment The actual value of the purchased quantity of perfume, incense, oud, etc.

Knowledge indicators

Zainal pointed out that the authority focused on raising the indicators of knowledge of the merchants and suppliers sector well in advance of the start of implementation, especially as "specifications" gave them a deadline to reconcile the situation towards a full year, to ensure a smooth gradual transition to the new unit, as was coordination during the last period with the regulatory agencies And supervisory in the state to ensure the best methods of application.

She said that the authority carried out a series of awareness workshops for the perfume industry sector, on the importance of converting the unit of measurement “Al-Toula” into units of the international system of measurement “grams / milliliters”, as the authority presented an introductory video about redefining the units of the international system of measurement, as well as A presentation on the Board of Directors decision to replace the Tula unit with the Gram unit, and opened the door for discussion to traders to listen to their comments.

Al-Tula Unit

The “Tula” unit is a unit of measurement for the mass used in 1833 in India, from which it moved with merchants to the Emirates, and is used in perfumes, but after the change scheduled to be applied today, the authority aims to protect the consumer by ensuring its use of internationally recognized units of measurement, In addition to reducing technical obstacles to the perfume trade, which is estimated at eight billion dirhams, in addition to using internationally accepted measurement standards.

• A "historic change" in the culture of dealing with units of measurement used in markets.