Restaurants in Abu Dhabi have stopped charging customers a service charge from Monday, February 1st, in order to comply with the decision from the Ministry of Economy (MoE) (No. 466/2007).    Dr. Hashim Al Nuwaimi, Director of Consumer Protection Department at the MoE said the ministry ordered all restaurants in the country to stop taking service charges from customers beginning on February 1st.  Previously, it was customary practice for big restaurants to charge their customers ten percent of the bill amount. 

Dr. Al Nuwaimi said restaurants that continue the practice of taking service charges will be dealt with severely, and outlets would be closed for repeated offense.  MoE inspectors will visit outlets routinely to check invoices.  For a first violation, the outlet will be issued a written warning letter, for the second it will be penalized, and a third violation would result in shut down for a week and referral of the case to court.