Shop owners in Jeddah hailed the city's municipality for creating a department for supervision of women's activities, a step that was also welcomed by Saudi men and women alike. The female supervisors at the department were properly trained and familiarized with their tasks, and already have started carrying out their functions, the municipality said earlier. According to Engineer Khaled Al-Aqeel, Deputy Mayor for Services, the inspectors will be commissioned with making the rounds on all women-only shops to ensure that these shops operate legally, and that all sales staff have undergone medical checkups. Furthermore, the female inspectors, who have been made well aware of all relevant regulations, would be checking the safety and validity of all supplies and items. According to Engineer Mahmoud Kinsarah, Assistant Vice Mayor for Services and Director General of Licenses and Trade Control, all female inspectors had been enrolled in a training course for introduction to regulations, instructions, health requirements, inspection mechanisms, drafting of notices, sanctions and penalties, and the requirements of issuing licenses. Kinsarah added that an inspector should be able to followup on redressing violations and to identify all herbal products and cosmetics which have not been licensed by the Ministry of Health. – Okaz __
