DOHA: A law on the anvil seeks to drastically reduce the time period after which goods lying unclaimed or uncared for at the ports are auctioned.
The current time period is six months, and according to amendments being made to the existing law, the duration will most likely be reduced to two months. In fact, a draft law that carries the amendments sough to curtail the above duration to one month but the Advisory Council recommended that the period be extended to two.
The present law (Number 29) was passed 49 years ago, in 1966, so it needed to be amended to keep in step with the latest developments. The Advisory Council, at its routine weekly meeting yesterday, discussed the draft legislation and approved it.
The draft law was earlier referred by the Council to its services committee. The committee’s report was discussed by the Council, which noted that from a six-month grace period for auctioning unclaimed goods, the time period must be brought down to two, not one.
“Businessmen will suffer more losses, so the time frame for auctioning goods should ideally be two months, not one,” the Council said in its recommendations referred to the Cabinet.
The rule would apply to both, goods that are imported and lying unclaimed in the precincts of the ports or goods that are meant for export/re-export but are not shipped within the specified time. Precincts here mean warehouses or other storage facilities of the ports, or open areas where containers are kept.
The draft legislation also suggests that perishable goods that lie unclaimed or unshipped at the ports for long periods and can become stale or can damage other goods at the ports can also be auctioned after thorough inspections.
The draft amends several other articles of the existing law and increases the fines to be imposed on ships that break the port’s rules or pollute the sea waters. In the present law, the Cabinet has the authority to waive certain fee levied on ships or importers. In the amended law this authority is being vested with the Minister of Transport and Communications.
