Saudi Shoura blames SASO for imitation goods 

(MENAFN - Arab News) The Shoura Council criticized the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) for not performing its duty properly, which resulted in the import of imitation and poor quality goods to the Kingdom.

The criticism was made during a discussion on SASO's performance report for 2011 in which SASO blamed customs for the entry of poor quality products to the Kingdom. SASO also blamed customs for not tapping the potentials of its specialized laboratories at the entry points, Al-Hayat daily reported Tuesday.

"SASO cannot absolve itself from the responsibility for the entry of counterfeit goods to the Kingdom. The Customs Department made it clear that the reason for the entry of poor quality goods is that the SASO has not so far issued clear instructions on the standards and specifications of many items. Consequently, it was impossible for customs officials to verify the quality of a number of goods," Member of the Housing, Water and General Services Committee of the council Manosur Al-Keraidis said.

Member of the Human Rights and Petitions Committee Abdul Jaleel Al-Saif said: "SASO was established 40 years ago. It was restructured and linked to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry nine years ago. Since then, the Council of Ministers has taken 41 decisions to support the demands of SASO to improve its efficiency. But these did not improve the organization."

He added that SASO had made the same allegations about customs in all its past reports.

Member of the Financial Affairs Committee Muhammad Al-Mutlaq said SASO fell short of its responsibilities and stressed the need for re-evaluating them.
The council members also discussed some clauses in a report of the Islamic and Legal Committee on a bill on penal regulations on Monday. The committee recommended that the verdicts of appeal courts on capital punishment, stoning, hand amputation, qisas (beheading of murderers) should not be final until endorsed by the Supreme Court.

The committee's recommendations also included the deletion of a clause in the bill that there should be unanimity in the view of judges in such verdicts.

The report argued that there was no record in the Islamic jurisprudence demanding unanimity for verdicts of capital punishment. It also expressed the fear that the inclusion of the unanimity clause will nullify the taazir (discretionary) capital punishment meted out to criminals such as drug traffickers.

The Shoura Council also recommended the addition of a clause in the bill empowering courts to extend the detention period of suspects under exceptional circumstances.