Some 275 commercial outlets and service providers were found violating stipulations of Law No 8 for 2008 on consumer protection last year by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC).
In a statement on Saturday, the ministry also noted that it conducted 1,302 inspection campaigns in the local market last year to ensure compliance with consumer protection regulations.
Besides detecting violations, the MEC also made 74 recalls to repair manufacturers' defects in various products, including vehicles, electronics, home appliances and others.
The administrative closure of 19 outlets was enforced by the MEC for various consumer violations, particularly fraud and display of expired products.
The ministry also received 4,573 consumer rights complaints through its various communication channels, all of which were handled accordingly, it said in a statement.
The MEC on Saturday launched its 2015 annual achievements report under the theme "Towards more prosperity".
The accomplishments cover various areas and came both locally and internationally. These include the Middle East award for consumer protection it won last year.
Meanwhile, the MEC quantitative licences and market control department inspected some 27,390 shops in 2015 to check the validity or their licences. It registered a total of 933 violations.
A total of 1,168 inspection campaigns were conducted in this respect during the period, with the MEC receiving and following up on 1,603 complaints.
The ministry launched last year a number of initiatives to encourage local and foreign investments by upgrading its online services and making the process of launching a new business easier, the statement noted.
Besides, the MEC initiated several projects to promote investment in logistics areas in the south of the country.
It launched logistics and storehouse projects over an area of 9mn sqm, which would be implemented through partnerships between the government and private sector companies. The first phase of such projects is already being implemented.
Other projects launched to encourage investment in 2015 included the new Haraj market near Barwa City, which is expected to become operational in the last quarter of 2017, and the Al Furjan (neighbourhood) markets, with the launch of 44 markets with 645 shops in the first phase.
Projects in the food security area included a poultry and egg production project, greenhouse farms, milk and dairy production and a project to increase the local production of livestock fodder, according to the statement.
In 2015, MEC issued a number of new commercial registrations. These included 400 for companies with limited liabilities, 2,296 for single-owner companies, five for general sharing companies, four for holding companies, six for corporate companies, 57 for foreign companies and 1,387 for individual associations, the ministry said.
In the same period, 36,247 commercial registrations were renewed and 3,376 were cancelled. The MEC also received 28 patent applications last year as well as 730 requests to register local trademarks and 7,007 for foreign trademarks.
"2015 saw unprecedented interaction between the ministry and the public, which was maintained through providing direct communication channels that enable people to communicate their issues easily and comfortably to the ministry. This contributed to improving its services and enhancing its performance," HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani said in his introduction to the report.
He stressed that the MEC exerted considerable effort to develop business and attract more investment, besides enhancing creativity.