in-house Profile

| Lexis Middle East Law Alert | November / December 2016 | lexismiddleeastlaw.ae 1919

in-house ProfileJob title – sector

Consumer CentredKhadija Quick, Legal Manager: Middle East, Africa and Pakistan (Alcatel) talks about her role at the heart of the sales process.

About YouI am Jamaican by birth but grew up in Canada and South Africa. I obtained my LLB at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa in 2003 and was selected to participate in a Leadership Development Programme at Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria) in 2011. I then went on to study for my LLM at the University of Witwatersrand in 2012. I began my career in private practice as a Candidate Attorney there (then Deneys Reitz) in Cape Town. After gaining experience in the Insurance Litigation, Property and Employment Law departments at Norton Rose Fulbright SA I was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa (Cape Provincial Division) in 2006. Once I completed my articles I left practice to search for the right role for me.

This led me to the Legal Compliance team at RMB Private Bank and then back to practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr as a Commercial Associate. While in my Associate role, I was seconded to South African Airways as Senior Legal Manager and I found my passion.

This secondment was my first inhouse counsel role and it was then I decided practice wasn’t for me because I enjoyed being more involved in the business. I ended up joining the airline permanently and it was during that time that my first career highlight occurred with the enactment of the South Africa Consumer Protection Act.

One of my tasks was to introduce consumer protection compliance to the airline which involved changing the organisation's culture. After working at the airline, I joined British American Tobacco South Africa and then Middle East where I held three different positions including my last role which was as Head of Legal and External Affairs: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Southern Africa Markets Cluster.

I've recently joined Alcatel and have found that, as with my other industry moves, legal knowledge is not the only transferable aspect, as even as a lawyer you tend to build a general commercial understanding of how consumer focused sales and organisations work. However, I have found when you change industries you need an intensive self-imposed induction period in order to meaningfully contribute to the business

particularly at a leadership level.

About Your businessThe Alcatel brand is owned by TCL Communication which designs, develops and markets a range of mobile and Internet devices world-wide. The TCL Group also sells consumer electronics and home appliances, including air conditioning units. Our company was founded 35 years ago and incorporated in 1985. We are headquartered in Hong Kong and in 2014 our revenue was $16.44 billion. We employ approximately 73,000 people and are one of the fastest growing top ten mobile phone manufacturers globally. We are registered on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and operate in over 80 cities across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North and South America. I have found there are very few regulations from China which impact on our operations in this region. In fact, the complexities of the varying legal and regulatory frameworks in the Middle East and African countries heavily impact on how and where our products can be sold. There are of course other factors that add to the dynamics including cultural differences.

current roleAs Legal Manager, I am sole Counsel for the region. I provide corporate, commercial and employment law advice to all markets in the region and manage all disputes and litigation. I am also responsible for developing regional legal policies like our employee handbook, sanctions compliance and contracts

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in-house Profile

lexismiddleeastlaw.ae | November / December 2016 | Lexis Middle East Law Alert |2020

management.In addition I undertake all the company secretarial

duties for all of our entities. I see myself as an extended part of the sales force and so my role is ultimately to facilitate sales in an efficient and risk-free manner.

On a day to day basis, I deal with all kinds of queries on legal implications, draft and review commercial agreements and advise on compliance matters. I liaise a lot with our China headquarters on contractual and commercial matters.

I find juggling my legal counsel and company secretarial roles quite challenging. On the commercial side it’s in your face whereas on the secretarial side it is less so except for the fiscal and regulatory filings.

One of the big projects I am involved in at the moment is the restructuring of our business because we are a new region.

This means we are spending a lot of time on building governance policies and processes as well as

commercial templates.

Your sectorIn terms of telecommunication specific regulation I find dealing with technical certification takes less of my time than ensuring compliance with general consumer legislation. My involvement with technical certification is drafting official letters like delegated authority letters. Having said that the UAE has a lot to learn on the consumer protection side. Having worked in South Africa and the Middle East one of the distinct differences is that the Middle Easts’ legislative process is more simplistic in that in some of the markets there isn’t a formal legislative process for enactment of legislation. From a compliance perspective this completely affects your business and creates a danger of being constantly reactive rather than proactive. This means that at all times you have to be regulation ready. This decision-making vacuum also means there can

PrActitioner PersPective

Barry Greenberg and Nora Chehouri of BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates LLP examine the regional differences in consumer protection legislation in the GCC.

GCC countries are keen to conduct their consumer affairs according to international standards and legislation. This has seen a shift to a consumer-centric business environment coupled with effective legal safeguards which deal with issues like bad customer service,

overcharging, false advertising, safety standards and the supply of defective goods. There are a few common pillars on which the GCC countries base consumer rights rules. Generally they involve product health and safety, accurate information on goods or services, choice of quality at competitive prices, information on consumer rights, responsibilities and interests, improving goods or services, pricing and the availability and fair settlement of just claims. While the law in Qatar is not yet as comprehensive as in other GCC jurisdictions, it does offer consumers the right to be heard and obtain due consideration. There are penalties which should act as a deterrent. Qatar has also been promoting consumer protection as a catalyst for sustainable development in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030. In contrast, Saudi Arabia has traditionally had weaker consumer protections than the other GCC states but in 2008 the Council of Ministers enacted Resolution No. 3/2008 in order to begin moving towards a consumer safeguarding system through the creation of the Saudi Consumer Protection Association. Their main aim was to achieve better quality control in local products in line with international standards. The UAE, however has a more evolved consumer protection framework and its consumer protection efforts were recognised by the ICPEN when it became the first

GCC country to join this world consumer protection body in 2016. Penalties imposed across the region vary from heavy fines to imprisonment depending on the type of breach, but in the UAE products involved in an offence and materials or equipment used in production can also be confiscated or destroyed.

The Executive Director of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Sector at the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai has also called on the GCC to draft a unified consumer protection law to control products in the common market. In addition, during the fourth Consumer Protection Meeting in Kuwait there was considerable discussion about launching a unified consumer protection website which would be maintained and updated by each country’s relevant authority and would be available to all citizens of the GCC. In the GCC region Government entities in each country have established bodies to enforce consumer protection regulations at a local level. Although the regulations imposed generally mirror global standards, e.g. with legal notions such as the right to safety and right to information, there are differences in their enforcement.

Consumers tend to rely on the investigative bodies and Government authorities on infringement of their consumer protection rights and do not generally except in the DIFC have access to a small claims court where recourse for minor offences can be granted without using a lawyer. (The DIFC small claims tribunal is only allowed to hear matters related to DIFC entities.) At present, the GCC is trying to improve communication between local enforcement bodies and unsatisfied customers through awareness campaigns and call centres which respond to complaints.

Barry GreenbergSenior Associate

BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates

LLP