The Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, yesterday passed a
decree exempting various kinds of cement, gravel and reinforced steel
imported into Qatar from non-GCC countries from customs duty with
retrospective effect from January 1. The new decree is expected to
tremendously benefit Qatar’s booming construction industry which is
currently plagued by scarcity of different kinds of material.
The Emiri Decree No-32 of 2006 was passed yesterday after considering Law
No-42 of 2002 and a decision by the GCC Secretariat taken during last year’s
GCC summit in Abu Dhabi as well as the proposal by the Minister of Finance
and a draft law proposed by the Cabinet. The decree exempts from paying
Qatar import duty, items that are extensively used by the construction
industry.
Article-1 of the law states that items imported from countries outside the
GCC region into Qatar are exempt from Customs Duty beginning January 1, 2006
are different types of cement, gravel and reinforced steel (rebar).
Article-2 calls upon concerned local authorities to implement the law after
its publication in the official gazette.
The kinds of cement imported from outside the GCC region that are exempt
from import duty are, water cement as clinkers or in any other form,
Portland cement, white cement and cement with artificial dyes, regular
cement, cement that are used for saline environment, cement aluminum. The
different types of gravel exempt from import duty are the type used in
concrete mix, construction of roads and railway lines, fillings and for
reclamation. Steel exempted from import duty are iron and steel bars without
alloys.
