The weekly Cabinet meeting, presided over by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, yesterday issued a draft law amending some provisions of Decree Law No 29 of 1966 on the regulation of Qatar’s sea ports after examining the recommendation of the Advisory Council.
As per the amendment, commodities and containers that remain in the warehouses of ports a month after the arrival of the vessel without being claimed or a month after their arrival without being exported, are to be sold in line with the regulations that are to be issued via a decision by the minister of transport.
The Cabinet also issued a draft law amending some provisions of the communications law issued as Decree Law No. 34 of 2006 after the Cabinet reviewed the recommendation of the Advisory Council.
The bill stipulates that the Communications Regulatory Authority can impose one of the financial penalties, stated in the table attached to the law, against the licensee in case of violation of provisions of the law, its executive regulations, or decisions and licenses that were issued in its implementation. This applies to cases other than crimes and punishments stated in Chapter 16 of this law.
A committee under named “Financial penalties committee” shall be established at the authority to arbitrate in the violations in question. The formation of the committee is to be issued via a decision by the head of the Communications Regulatory Authority. The committee is to be headed by one of the judges of the court of first instance.
The committee must inform the licensee of the violation attributed to them and the need to submit their remarks within 30 days of being notified. If a licensee does not submit remarks within this period or submits them, but the committee decides they are unacceptable, then the committee is entitled to impose a fine that doesn’t exceed the specified maximum stated in the attached table. When evaluating the penalty, the committee will take into consideration the severity of the violation and its consequences.
Meanwhile, the meeting ratified a Cabinet draft decision extending the waiver of concession fees for Qatar Ports Management Company in accordance with Decree Law No 17 of 2009 on the establishment of Qatar Ports Management Company.
In addition, the Cabinet endorsed two draft decisions by the Minister of Economy and Commerce – fees for registering and renewing licences for practising consultancy services were specified and templates of application forms for the registration, renewal and registration certificates for practising consultancy services were endorsed.
The Cabinet approved the following: A – A draft agreement for co-operation in the legal field between the governments of Qatar and Afghanistan.
B- A draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for co-operation in the field of education between the governments of Qatar and Afghanistan.
C- A draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for co-operation in the field of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Technology between the governments of Qatar and Afghanistan.
The Cabinet reviewed the following topics and took the appropriate decisions:
- A letter by the Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Water Resources on the 2015 first quarterly report on the work of the Committee.
- A memorandum by HE the Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Qatar Committee for Alliance of Civilizations on the fifth annual report of the Committee for the year 2014/2015.
The Committee established at the Foreign Ministry under the chairmanship of HE the Foreign Minister and the membership of representatives from the concerned authorities to supervise the development of a the State work plan and follow up its contributions to the Alliance of Civilizations.
The report states that the committee has developed a plan for the State of Qatar for the period 2014- 2016 to keep pace with the second generation of national plans for the Alliance of Civilizations, it has also participated in a number of conferences, meetings and forums, organized several events, and conducted briefings with academic and educational institutions, students and youth.
- A draft decision of the Minister of Environment to establish sections in the administrative units composing the Organization for Standards and Metrology (QGOSM) and set its terms of reference.
- A letter by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority’s Appeals Committee on its semi-annual report July – December 2014.
