ahmed bin ali al-mohannadi · thevery year on december 18 , the people of qatar a re overwhelmed by...

Every year on December 18th, the people of Qatar a re overwhelmed by feelings of honor and pride, for that day which brings back the best memories of the past which blow with their memorable events over Qatar’s land to say to it we hope this year (and every year) brings you happiness and goodness our beloved homeland. On that day, we recollect the great achievements of our memorable ascendants who broke ground for this highbred Country, most important of whom was the Founder of Qatar Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohammed Bin Thani,May God have Mercy upon him, who laid the foundations of a modern state. The sacrifice renews, and thanks to God, we accomplish an achievement after the other at all levels of social, political and economic life, under an aspiring youthful leadership that has been able to accomplish large-scale, qualitative achievements and create radical changes until Qatar has become an exemplary model for allworld countries in terms of advancement and boom. It is the road- map of action for a developed, advanced and civilized State where wellbeing, sustainable growth and equal opportunities prevail, a Stateof institutions and the rule of law. In this regard, we extend our hearti- est congratulations and felicitations to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-beloved Emir of Qatar and leader of the State, and His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, in whose reign the State moved forward towards a new era of political, economic, educational, community and cultural boom, and .in all other fields of life without exception

The General Authority of Customs, represented by all its personnel, would like to present a valuable gift to its well-beloved country, being their faithfulness, cooperation, hard work, assuming responsibility, motivating the vigor, combined effort, and optimal use of resources to build a shining future for Qatar, firmly determined on employing modern technology on a large-scale basis, simplifying the procedures, fighting illegal commercial activities in conformity with our strategic plan for the years (2014-207) and implementing its workstreams, in implementation of Qatar Vision 2030 which serves as our reference.towards development and modernization

Ahmed Bin Ali Al-MohannadiGAC Chairman

QATAR NATIONAL DAY

“GAC” and “SCH” collaborate to activate Online Customs Clearance

The National Day in the eyes of customs officers

A National Workshop on Risk Management and Selective Practices at Customs

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Fifty-ninth issue - January 2016

Art DirectorAhmed Salah

Quarterly published every three months

The General Authority of Customs

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Correspondence

Welcomes the publicationof the magazine topicsThat is the source said

General Supervisor

HE / Ahmed bin Ali Al Mohannadi

Editor-in-Chief

Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubaisi

Editorial

Khaled Alaqeedi

Emad Nosseir

Mona Zainal

Abdulrahman Al-Noemi

Shoaa Al Moftah

Editor secretary

Mohammed Najeeb Nasr

Qatar Customs attain a pioneer customs rank in Global Competitiveness Report

Medical Checkup for Customs Employees on the occasion of World Diabetes Day

Prerequisites of Temporary Entry of Foreign Tourist Vehicles

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1924

29The Customs foils smuggling of narcotic tablets mixed with coffee

15,000 Transactions at Express Mail Division a day

Tuaim Al Merri:

General Authority of Customs par-ticipated in the 13th Meeting of GCC Customs Union Authority held on November 15, 2015 at the Sec-retariat in Riyadh. Qatar chaired the Union’s session through a del-egation headed by H.E Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohanndai, Chairman of General Authority of Customs. The Meeting addressed several is-sues and topics related to the GCC Customs work; foremost of which were the mechanism of direct au-tomated transfer of customs du-ties, how to apply all technical conditions related to this issue, the minutes of joint meeting of the technical committee on pay-ment systems and an analysis team comprising system analysts. In addition, the Meeting also dis-cussed meetings Nos. 53 and 54 of the Committee of Customs Proce-dures and Computer.

Further, the meeting involved a review of the minutes of commit-tee charged with reviewing the Common Customs Law in respect of amending certain articles per-taining to the Law and its Imple-menting Regulation. Also, the Meeting addressed the latest de-velopments on a study for treat-ing factories establishment at economic communities with gulf investments.

Moreover, the Meeting addressed aspects of the third joint meet-ing between the GCC Customs Union Authority and Private Sec-tor’s representatives in the GCC States, stressing the importance

Involving important debates on direct automated transfer

The Customs Takes Part in the 13th GCC Customs Union Authority Meeting

of cooperation between the Customs and Private Sector on observing the security as-pect and

safety of goods, the Private Sec-tor’s completion of documents required for releasing goods from Customs Departments, and set-ting specific conditions to ensure effectiveness of implications of the origin on goods, products and other aspects.

The Meeting also reviewed of the latest developments on the possi-bility for the customs information center of the GCC States to take over the duties of the Arab Infor-mation Center, which is expected to reflect positively on availability of appropriate information to cre-ate prompt operations of trade exchange among the States and a better streamlined movement of goods and commodities.

Also, the Meeting addressed the accession of GCC States to the International Land Transport Convention, the mechanism of refunding customs duties for com-modities that are exempt under the Free Trade Conventions, in addition to touching on the lat-est developments on studying the protection of local agent. It is worth mentioning that Qatar Cus-toms has satisfied several pivotal points of the requirements of GCC Customs Union Authority, and implemented Terms of Reference related to the direct automated transfer mechanism, Common Customs Law, unified procedure manual, unified tariff, improving the performance of customs ports and others.

Customs News

The General Authority of Customs-Fifty-ninth issue4

GAC Chairman to host Ambassadors of Singapore and SwitzerlandHis Excellency Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohanndai, Chairman of the General Authority of Customs, hosted H.E Wong Kwok Pun, Am-bassador of the Republic of Sin-gapore to Qatar. In their meeting, the two sides addressed enhance-ment of the Free Trade Agreement and the visit paid by the National Committee for Single Window “Al-Nadeeb” to Singapore, in an effort to get acquainted with the latest customs experiences and develop-ments, the best modern systems, as well as mechanisms of releasing goods, commodities, customs and logistic services applied by Singa-pore.

Also, Mr. Al-Mo-hanndai received Switzerland’s Am-bassador to Qatar, H.E Martin Aesch-bacher, in a visit aiming to address certain issues related to customs work and its role for en-hancing cooperation between the two countries, and facilitating the trade exchange movement.

On the other hand, the two Am-bassadors expressed their admira-tion of the advanced level attained by Qatar Customs in the different areas of customs work.

GCC Financial and Economic Co-operation Committee held its 101st meeting in Doha. The Meeting was chaired by Qatar’s Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi. The meeting was attended by H.E Abdullah bin Juma Al Shibli, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Devel-opment Affairs of the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Mohannadi, Vice Chairman of the General Authority of Customs, and representatives of all Member States and the Secre-tariat.

In the course of the meeting, the Committee addressed the minutes of Meetings Nos. 11 and 12 of the Customs Union as well as minutes

Attended by GAC›s Vice ChairmanFinancial and Economic Cooperation Committee to Hold its 101st Meeting

of Meetings Nos. 70 and 71 of the Customs Union Committee, and ap-proved a number of recommendations emanating from them.

During the meet-ing, the attendees approved the draft agenda according to the wording pro-posed by the Secre-tariat and Member States, and after having discussed the issues tabled on the agenda in light of the recommendations set out in the meeting minutes of committees

and work teams, and memoranda submitted by the Secretariat and Member States.

The General Authority of Customs-Fifty-ninth issue 5

General Authority of Customs and the Supreme Council of Health signed a Memorandum of Under-standing for operating the sin-gle-window system for customs clearance services “Al-Nadeeb” between them. Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Mohanndai, GAC’s Vice Chairman signed the MOU on behalf of GAC, while Dr. Saleh bin Ali Al Merri, As-sistant Secretary General for Medi-cal Affairs at SCH signed it on behalf of the Supreme Council of Health, in the presence of members of the National Committee for Customs Clearance.

The agreement, signed at GAC’s headquarters, aims to activate the concept of collaboration and building real partnership among all government sectors, in implemen-tation of Qatar Vision 2030, while standardizing, simplifying and streamlining customs procedures for goods under SCH supervision.

Under the MOU, the parties mutu-ally agreed that upon registering a customs statement on the electron-ic system, which relates to any form of import or export and involves restricted goods from among the

goods described in SCH’s classifica-tion schedule, SCH will be required to give GAC technical opinion on these goods electronically, within one business day from the date of sending the customs statement, thus making the customs clearance process take place in a faster and more accurate way depending on “Al-Nadeeb – Single Window”.

In this context, it is worth mention-ing that GAC is continuously de-veloping and updating “Al-Nadeeb – Single Window” in cooperation with the concerned bodies, in line with the priorities of customs ser-vice beneficiary, and in harmony with the application of interna-tional economic conventions’ stan-dards under the umbrella of WTO and WCO.

Earlier, GAC signed with the Min-istries of Interior and Environment a similar MOU for operating Cus-toms Clearance Single Window “Al-Nadeeb”.

GAC is seeking to provide the best electronic customs clearance ser-vices for all sectors in the State, motivated by its being a secu-

rity and economic edifice aiming to support both the national and global economies, facilitate in-ternational trade operations, and encouraging investment through simplifying and facilitating customs procedures and required electronic link among the different concerned government bodies in the State, embodied by “Al-Nadeeb – Single Window” program.

Further, it is worth mentioning that the National Committee for Customs Clearance - Al-Nadeeb” played an important role for making coordination leading to the signing of MOU with the Supreme Council of Health, and the agreement was signed during the Committee’s 15th meeting, as the company has been performing its functions since many months with a view to facili-tating trade exchange operations between the State and all world countries through seeking to sim-plify customs procedures and non-customs restrictions at ports in a way which facilitates for both indi-viduals and merchants import and export operations and providing the same through a single window that enables them to finalize all their transactions.

Through a MOU signed by them“GAC” and “SCH” collaborate to activate Online Customs Clearance


The General Authority of Customs participated in Qatar’s National Day events through a distinguished suite in Doha Pavilion at Darb Al Saai Events. The suite showcases GAC’s achievements over the past period, provides an overview of GAC history, its early directors and government establishment. It also introduced to the public a number of customs seizures of narcotics as well as fake goods. This comes in a bid to enhance of the role of customs in protecting the com-munity, as a part of implementing corporate social responsibility plan adopted by the GAC. GAC’s par-ticipation underlies its being one of the most prominent bodies in the State given its security nature and persistent oversight of borders and ports around the clock, so it was important to be present that day through its participation in Darb Al Saai events.

The Customs’ participation aims at implementing the social role of customs in the community and communicating with the public within GCA’s CSR Plan, in addi-tion to keeping the public, or more

preciously, the new generations, acquainted with the nature of cus-toms work and its security and eco-nomic importance in a simple way. In its suite, GAC exhibits the hon-orable customs history and its de-velopment phases since its estab-lishment, in addition to presenting the chairpersons of customs, and keeping the public familiarized with them and their effort for upgrading the customs work.

In addition, the inspectors, partici-pating in the suite’s events, intro-

Celebrating Qatar›s National Day…

A distinguished Suite forCustoms at Darb Al Saai Events

duced customs facilities and work tools, locations of land, sea and air ports and their work nature, the Customs’ administrative headquar-ters and its development over the years, the customs uniform both in the past and at present, customs ranks, their meaning and impor-tance. Over and above all, the suite also showcased security and eco-nomic achievements attained by GAC over the past years and win-ning global ranks in customs perfor-mance level, in addition to the most outstanding seizures it executed.


A delegation from Qatar’s National Committee for Customs Clearance concluded a visit to Singapore and South Korea during the period from 5 to 11 November 2015. The purpose of the visit was to be acquainted with the latest experiences and devel-opments, the best state-of-the-art systems, mechanisms of releasing goods, commodities, customs and lo-gistic services applied by both the two countries. The delegation comprised representatives from the General Au-thority of Customs, Ministry of Interi-or, Ministry of Health, Ministry of En-vironment, Qatar Ports Management Company, Qatar Chamber of Com-merce, and Malomatia Company.

The National Committee for Customs Clearance was established under a Council of Ministers’ Resolution No. 36 of year 2014, with the aim of facili-tating trade exchange between the State of Qatar and all world countries, through simplifying customs proce-dures and non-customs restrictions at ports, and providing all import and export transactions through a single window, in a way which enables all re-

lated bodies to finalize all their trans-actions over the customs system.

In the course of its periodic meetings, the Committee addresses means of contribution to facilitating import and export related procedures for a better flow of commodities, speed-ing up trade movement, and making sure that all bodies concerned with import and export have adapted their e-systems to be integrated with the customs clearance system.

On his part, Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Mo-hanndai, Vice Chairman of General Authority of Customs and Head of the National Committee for Customs Clearance stressed the importance of the visit, which seeks to enhance strengths of customs work and its re-lations with its partners, through get-ting acquainted with the experience of Singapore and South Korea Re-publics, and capitalizing on the large-scale development attained by the two countries in the area of customs work over the past period.

Al-Mohanndai expressed hope that

the outcomes of that visit be positive-ly reflected over the coming period on the performance of customs work in Qatar through developing customs procedures on the one hand, enhanc-ing coordination and cooperation between the Customs and its part-ners operating at ports, borders and bodies restricting goods and com-modities on the other hand, aiming to achieve the desired objective for speeding up the goods and commodi-ties flow, in a way which helps support the Qatari economy and facilitate im-port and export movement.

It is worth mentioning that, in the course of its visit, the delegation got familiarized with the nature of pro-cedures related to customs work for goods clearance and the impact on the speed of releasing consignments and pushing the economic cycle for both countries. In addition, the del-egation recognized the relationship of customs with the commodities restricting bodies as well as the sys-tem in place for making coordination among border bodies, and the direct impact on improving .

Through a delegation composed of Customs Representative and Partners from Government Bodies

“National Committee for Customs Clearance” visits Singapore and South Korea to get acquainted with their customs and logistics experiences


General Authority of Customs held a national workshop on “ATA Car-net System”, in cooperation with Dubai Customs and Dubai Chamber. The workshop took place during the period 10-12 November, 2015, with the aim of enhancing institutional capabilities of employees on apply-ing the ATA Carnet system given its importance for strong cooperation between Customs Departments and Business Organizations.

The workshop, attended by 30 par-ticipants from different departments of the GAC, aims to keep the partici-pants acquainted with the ATA Car-net work system applicable at Dubai Customs, which achieved tangible success for facilitating entry of tem-porary goods, in addition to enhanc-ing experiences of the participants on the procedures and requirements of accession to ATA Carnet System and the system’s benefits in general.

In a speech delivered on occasion of the workshop, Mr. Mohammed Ja-ber Al-Nuaimi, Director of Customs Training Center, extended sincer-est thanks to guest lecturers coming from the United Arab Emirates, as-serting Qatar’s commitment to share expertise with Dubai Customs for the mutual benefit of both parties, in ad-dition to Dubai Chamber with its vital role in implementing the ATA Carnet Program in Dubai City. Al-Nuaimi added that the workshop was held in a distinguished time to introduce the recently applied temporary entry procedures and their benefits for fa-cilitating customs work to all bodies dealing with the customs under the system of temporary entry of goods. Al-Nuaimi pointed out that the work-shop provides a detailed explana-tion of administrative tasks and pro-cedures for the system adopted by Dubai Customs and Chamber, as well

In cooperation with Dubai Customs and Chamber:Qatar Customs enhances expertise of its Personnel on “ATA Carnet” System

Mr. Al Mazem added that the benefits of ATA Carnet include, among others, enabling the marketing representa-tives, showroom participants, and traveling businesspersons to carry out customs procedures at a predefined cost, and visiting a number of suc-ceeding countries without any form of delay in procedures, as the card helps facilitate and simplify cross-border customs procedures, minimize the routine requirements, and allow both importers and exporters to use a single document for finalizing all cus-toms procedures. It worth mention-ing that the workshop, presented by Mr. Yaqoob Al-Ajami, Director of Pro-cedures at Dubai Customs, and Mr. Mahdi Al Mazem, Director of Dubai Chamber’s Member Relations De-partment, and Mr. Daoud Abdullah, a senior executive at Dubai Chamber’s Support Services.

as procedures and operations related to validity of ATA Carnet, documents required for issuance process, and other relevant detailed matters.

On his part, Mr. Mahdi Al Mazem, Di-rector of Dubai Chamber’s Relations Department, expressed his pleasure both for the warm welcome they re-ceived in the State of Qatar, and for communicating with Qatar’s GAC for sharing experiences in respect of goods temporary entry system, main-taining that the ATA Carnet is an in-ternational customs documents that permits temporary import of com-modities for one year at maximum. ATA Carnet includes almost all goods; e.g. commercial samples, profession-al equipment, and goods allocated for showcasing in showrooms and com-mercial markets.


The General Authority of Customs held a regional workshop entitled “Rules of Origin”, on 8-11 November, 2015. The purpose of this workshop was to enhance customs capabilities of SAC’s officers, qualify the human resources, share expertise, consul-tations, and experiences with the regional countries. The workshop emerges as a part of the training plan for the regional countries issued by the Regional Office for Capacity Build-ing (ROCB) in Abu Dhabi. The work-shop witnessed active participation from the customs authorities of re-gional countries with 20 highly expe-rienced and competent participants. Mr. Sultan Abdul-Latif Al-Nuaimi, Director of Customs Affairs Depart-ment and Certified Expert at WCO delivered lectures in the workshop for Arabic speaking attendees, along with the expert Mrs. Meti Wordln Izam, the technical officer at the Directorate of Trade Affairs and Customs Tariff and Expert at WCO who also delivered lec-tures. Both experts provid-ed, during the workshop period, scientific material which would help support customs officers from Qa-tar and participating coun-

Lectured by Sultan Al-Nuaimi, Certified Expert at WCO

A Regional Workshop to Enhance Expertise of Customs Officers with the “Rules of Origin”

tries, and enhance their experiences on the international concepts and policies of the rules of origin.

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Mohammed Jaber Al-Nuaimi, Director of the Customs Training Center, who delivered a speech in which he welcomed the participants, emphasizing the importance of that workshop which focus on the rules of origin that is considered one of the most outstanding areas in which the customs work. Al-Nuaimi extended thanks to WCO’s Secretary General for the praiseworthy effort he exerts for supporting the customs depart-ments worldwide, particularly in the Middle East region in all fields of cus-toms capacities building and develop-ment. Further, Al-Nuaimi stressed the importance of training the employees

on the latest procedures in practice for the rules of origin, which represent an important addition for the move of managing and developing the rules of origin sectors at customs depart-ments of the participating countries, being a nucleus for enhancing the expertise of other employees on the rules of origin in accordance with the latest procedures applied by WCO.

In his lectures, Mr. Al-Nuaimi intro-duced to participants and enhanced their expertise on the international concepts and policies related to the rules of origin, their types, ways of proving and exemption from them, and the mechanism of applying the GCC Agreement on Rules of Origin.

On her part, the expert Mrs. Izam ad-dressed how to establish efficiency

and effectiveness for cus-toms departments in the area of applying the world trade instructions, develop-ment and sustainability of baseline standards for sim-plifying and unifying cus-toms systems and proce-dures. Mrs. Izam extended thanks to Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohannadi, Chairman of the General Authority of Customs.


General Authority of Customs held a national workshop entitled “Risk Management and Enhancement of Selective Practices”, which targeted employees of Operations and Risk Analysis Department, and a number of customs officers at the land, sea and air customs ports. The workshop was delivered by Mr. Agoz Aunal and Mr. Murad Arafawi, experts at World Customs Organization.

In the course of the workshop, at-tendees were briefed on the concept of customs risk management and techniques adopted by the World Customs Organization for applying the risk management system. In addi-tion, the nature of risks in a customs context were highlighted in the work-shop, including the principles, frame-work and operating process itself. In addition, the operations of collecting and analyzing intelligence informa-tion were also addressed, in addition to the role of communication and re-porting for supporting and giving suc-cess to the work of risk departments.

At the conclusion of the workshop, Mr. Mohammed Jaber Al Nuaimi, Director of Customs Training Cen-ter, honored the 16 participants. In his speech, Al Nuaimi emphasized SAC’s commitment to supporting its personnel with global experiences in all fields related to customs work, asserting that the risk management field has become one of the most im-portant issues adopted by Customs of the States from a security perspec-tive, while, in the same time, being committed to facilitating the entry of goods and supporting the trade movement.

Al Nuaimi extended thanks to WCO for its uninterrupted collaboration with Qatar’s GAC for providing the highly qualified and competent per-sonnel and experts for the purpose of developing capabilities and per-

formance GAC’s officers in a required manner.

On his part, Mr. Murad Arafawi, ex-pert at World Customs Organization, extended his greetings to Qatar’s GAC, praising its commitment to sup-porting its personnel and employees through training courses and work-shops that help largely upgrade their performance at the field level, as-serting that WCO provided the work-shop’s participants with a summary of the experience of many world coun-tries in the area of managing customs risks, how to control goods and se-cure their entry. In addition, the work-shop’s participants were briefed on the way of assessing risks, the meth-odology of handling them, how to classify and categorize files of import-ers and exporters according to their assessed risk degrees.

Mr. Arafawi also maintained that in

any customs apparatus, risk manage-ment has several supporting tools, to ensure the highest possible suc-cess rate in respect of securing the entry of goods and making sure that they are free from any risks that may be detrimental to the community or environment in general, including Rilos Regional Information Sharing Offices, Customs Enforcement Net-work (CEN), and National Customs Enforcement Network, goods target-ing system…etc.

It is worth mentioning that the work-shop received high interaction from the participants, who set visions for development action plans through multiple workgroups. In addition, GAC is committed to providing ad-hoc training courses and workshops in all fields related to customs work, in collaboration with several special-ized bodies both within Qatar and overseas.

In collaboration with WCOA National Workshop on Risk Management and Selective Practices at Customs


Qatari and Saudi Customs held their fifth bilateral meeting at the General Authority of Customs’ headquarters in Qatar. The Qatari delegation was headed by H.E Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohanndai, Chairman of General Au-thority of Customs, while the Saudi delegation was headed by H.E Saleh bin Manie Al Khelawi, Director General of Saudi Customs. In the course of the meeting, the attendees discussed the procedures of finalizing electronic link between customs authorities of the two countries, and reports drawn up by joint work teams to ensure that require-ments of customs union at the first entry outlets of the two countries are fulfilled. This comes as a part of bilateral meetings between the two countries, which address promoting aspects of joint cooperation in customs work, and discussing the newest issues related to different areas of customs.

Al-Mohanndai warmly welcomes the Saudi delegation in their second country, maintain that these meet-ings aim at smoothing away all im-pediments which adversely affect trade exchange movement, and fa-cilitating the movement of goods and commodities, which reflect positively on the economic cycle for the two countries in particular, and the GCC States in general. He went on saying that these meetings are the fruitful outcome of large-scale effort based on mutual trust and uninterrupted collaboration which derives its frame-work from the philosophy of eco-nomic openness to the world, positive dealing with commercial and indus-trial partners with the aim of achiev-ing joint interests and creating an at-tractive investment environment.Mr. Al-Mohanndai pointed out that the past period witnessed periodic meet-

ings of the directors of customs ports of Abu Samra and Salwa, with the aim of discussing observations that come into existence both adminis-tratively and technically between the two sides in respect of electronic link and finding out appropriate solutions promptly.

He also mentioned that the meeting also witnessed discussions on activat-ing joint team works between the two sides to ensure that requirements of customs union at the first entry out-lets for the two countries are fulfilled as agreed in the former meetings of Directors General of Customs, assert-ing that the Authority is keen on shar-ing expertise with the Saudi Customs, given the strong historical ties and relations between the two countries.

On his part, Saleh bin Manie Al Khe-

Joint Customs Issues addressed in the 5th Bilateral Meeting between the two parties

Electronic link between Qatar and Saudi Customs to be Finalized


lawi, Director General of Saudi Cus-toms, extended heartfelt thanks and appreciation to H.E Chairman of GAC for hospitality and warm welcome, stressing the deep relations between the Kingdom and Qatar in all sectors, particularly customs fields, and as-serting that the Customs Authorities of the two countries are keen on con-tinuation of that cooperation.

Al Khelawi asserted that the elec-tronic link is a comprehensive proj-ect which serves the powerful flow of customs data between the two ports, explaining that it is not limited to data transfer only, but rather, its role also includes contributing large-ly to sharing information on viola-tions and smugglers for the purpose of monitoring and collecting infor-mation about them, in addition to its considerable benefits in statistics related to goods, vehicles, passen-gers, and all things that go through the two ports.

Al Khelawi also pointed out that the meeting addressed the importance of cooperation in the field of train-ing and sharing of expertise between the two countries in specialized fields, which help equip the customs personnel with necessary experi-ences that are compatible with the best international practices applied by World Customs Organization. In addition, the parties also addressed

the completion of electronic link be-tween Abu Samra and Salwa Ports, and moving that process to all cus-toms ports between the two coun-tries.

On his part, H.E Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Mohanndai, Vice Chairman of Gen-eral Authority of Customs, spoke fa-vorably of matters mutually agreed upon in the course of the meeting, asserting that completing the elec-tronic link between the customs was a necessary requirement for both parties over the past period, and here they were making the final touches and addressing the final im-pediments which precede the phase of operating it in full capacity.

He also maintained that the Qatari Customs would exert effort to fa-cilitate all procedures related to the electronic link, in a way which sup-

ports easy flow and accurate moni-toring of customs information be-tween the two ports, indicating that these meetings would continue to follow up recommendations of the former meetings, develop mecha-nisms of joint action, and apply the best practices in customs work in line with the best modern technologies in the area of sharing information, inquiring about goods and commodi-ties with an advanced risk manage-ment.

It is worth mentioning that the meet-ing addressed several specialized issues related to the work of Abu Samra and Salwa Ports, foremost of which was the discussion of issues related to facilitating the trade ex-change, smoothing away any barri-ers that encounter work at both par-ties, and other issues tabled on the meeting agenda.


The National Day in the eyes of customs officersOn the national day of our beloved country, all know that the best way to express homeland’s love is to work hard for its interest, and to do your best for serving, defending it and safeguarding its resources. We, at the Customs Authority, in this blessed day, leave it up to our valued employ-ees from the various land, sea and air ports, who work at the ports and borders, to express their feelings on the occasion of this blessed day, and to write down themselves their wishes both at the personal level and at the level of work in the Customs…

The Blessed DayI extend my heartfelt congratulations to all people living on the land of our beloved Qatar on the occa-sion of our blessed national day in which we com-memorate the foundation of the State of Qatar. All achievements and developments achieved by Qatar in all fields bear witness to the political, economic stability and a clear vision of the wise leadership. All this constitute a strong motive and incentive to exert much more effort and sacrifice by the Qatari nation-als in order to achieve Qatar aspirations and vision 2030.

At the Customs level, I heartily wish that we are rated among the best cus-toms bodies at the global level, keep the development process we have adopted for many years, in addition to creating a link among all countries of the Gulf and Arab region for sharing information between the ports. It goes beyond doubt that we, at the Customs, boast our presence in that important place, knowing that the more diligence and hard worK.

Enhance Belonging to HomelandThe National Day is a dear occasion and an important day in the souls of the people of this beloved country, as its fruitful out-come helped cre-ate a blessed unity of the whole coun-try. In this day, we boast our highbred heritage and cur-rent great achievements. That’s why I have the pleasure to watch signs of celebration at Doha Corniche, streets, cultural salons, heritage places and other places, because this celebration consolidates the principles of renewing the pledge for allegiance to homeland and loyalty to the leader, com-mitment to consolidating Islamic values and keeping the Gulf identity, and return-ing the favor to the homeland by equipping ourselves with knowledge and taking part in supporting the comprehensive boom ad development journey.

Abdullah Omar Al-Saadi, Land Customs Salem Awad Salem, Sea Customs

Boasting of the Past mixed with a high ceiling of future aspirations


Report

We are getting ready for major challengesFeelings of happiness and boast-ing the country are mixed up on this day in which we remember the glories of the past, trying to link them to what we have achieved in the present day. My most heartfelt congratulations to all good people of Qatar in general, and to customs officers in particular, calling upon them to collaborate and join their forces for protecting our be-loved homeland from all perils it faces.

I wish continuous development, progress and advance-ment for the Customs, and to become the world’s No. 1 customs body. I am feeling that the Customs is moving towards a major and quite difficult challenge; namely, the World Cup 2022, so all of us should get ready with all de-termination and power we have because it is going to be a major test for facilitating entry of that huge number of visitors, guests and goods.

TeamworkI extend my heartfelt congratula-tions to all people living on the land of our beloved Qatar, praying God to bestow success upon our wise government to keep attain-ing achievements in all fields. In addition, I do not forget to pray God for to bless the souls of all former rulers of Qatar for the ef-fort they have made, from the late Founder Sheikh Jassim Bin Thani, May His soul rest in peace, up to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-beloved emir of Qatar.

I call upon my dear colleagues at the General Authority of Cus-toms to show more commitment and teamwork, as the more teamwork we adopt, the more productivity we achieve at work, learn from our mistakes, and that we benefit from each other. Finally, I pray to God to make our beloved Qatar enjoy perma-nent safety and security, wishing you good health and wellbe-ing year after yeat.

Uninterrupted Developmentand strife, and Qatar has been able to attain such large-scale development and ad-vancement only thanks to the hard work and strife of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-be-loved Emir of Qatar, His High-ness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, preceded by the genius lead-ers who ruled Qatar by wis-dom and advice, and worked hard for its development and advancement, and followed by all noble people of Qatar who have worked hard in good faith for the progress of our beloved Qatar, to all of whom I extent my most heartfelt greetings and appreciation. Coun-tries are built only by hard work

It goes beyond doubt that Qatar Customs is making con-tinuous progress, and we note the difference year after year, whether in work procedures, customs clearance system, ex-amination and inspection methods and other areas of work, and during the forthcoming period, Qatar will undergo a dou-ble expansion, so I wish that the Customs be prepared for that large-scale work expansion by increasing the number of em-ployees, employing the state-of-the-art technological systems and updating their procedures at all departments.

The Homeland in our heartsOn this day in which we are get-ting ready to commemorate the foundation of the State of Qatar, I extend my sincerest congratulations and felicita-tions to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-beloved Emir of Qatar, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, all people of Qatar, and all customs personnel, on this blessd occasion, praying God the Almighty to send this day back upon us where Qatar achieves further advancement and prosperity, with much more great achievements thanks to the faithful effort exerted by the people of Qatar who make the homeland in their own hearts all the time. For the Customs, I wish that we keep the level of performance that qualified Qatar Customs over the past year to have the second rank at the Arab level and the tenth rank at the global level. I also as-sert for my colleagues that diligence and hard work is the optimal way to success, in addition to qualifying the em-ployees in their respective areas of specialization to make our work more professional.

Mohammed Jar Allah Al-Merri, Air Shipping

Naser Mounir Al-Hajiri, Land Customs

Saeed Al-Mansoori, Land CustomsMohammed Nasser Al-Halbadi, Land Customs


94% Qatarization Rate at GAC

Within this year, the General Author-ity of Customs has implemented a large number of programs and proj-ects at both administrative and field levels, which varied to include the development and promotion of hu-man, technical, and procedural as-pects, or at the level of collaboration between the Customs and different bodies both within Qatar and over-seas. Hence, we considered it impor-tant, on the sidelines of celebrating the National Day of our beloved Qa-tar, to highlight the most outstand-ing of these achievements, in a bid to clarify the large-scale effort exerted, and to serve as a brief reference that gives an incentive to all employees to attain further successes at all lev-els over the coming years.

We, at the General Authority of Cus-toms, would like to take advantage of this opportunity by extending our sincerest congratulations and felici-tations to His Highness Sheikh Ta-

Qatar Customs attain a pioneer customs rank in Global Competitiveness Report

* “Al Nadeeb 2” Electronic Clear-ance System to be in operation

mim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-beloved Emir of Qatar, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, all people of Qatar on the occasion of Qatar’s National Day, praying to God the Almighty to send this day upon this year (and every year) where Qatar enjoys secu-rity, sovereignty and welfare under the wise leadership.

On his part, H.E Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohanndai, GAC Chairman, extended his most heartfelt con-gratulations and felicitations to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the well-beloved Emir of Qatar, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani on the occasion of Qatar’s National Day, and in recognition of the faith-ful effort and memorable achieve-ments they have made which con-tributed largely to the advancement of Qatar at all levels, and to the good people of Qatar, praying to God the Almighty to safeguard our beloved country and bestow upon us safety and security favor.Al-Mohanndai pointed out that GAC’s celebration of Qatar’s National Day entails that we memorize the most outstanding successes attained by the Author-ity, which aim, in the first place, to upgrade performance level, provide the best service to the public and all clients, and achieve quality in all cus-

toms work fields, whether adminis-trative or field.

Qatar Customs is the No. 1 among Gulf Countries in Integrity

The Economist Intelligence Unit report in The Economist regarding standard of integrity has been con-firmed that the Qatar Customs is the first among Gulf countries in in-tegrity rate, as in the indicator from zero (the worst) to one hundred (the best), Qatar Customs got the 79.9% mark, while the Gulf average was 65.8%, according to a report pub-lished by Kuwait’s Al Qabas News-paper. This is attributable mainly to GAC’s commitment to developing the human resources both ethically and professionally at several levels, as GAC took into due consideration to include integrity in its strategic plan among the most important val-ues set for working system. In addi-tion, GAC has been distributing to its staff entitled “Ethics of the customs officer” in emphasis of the profes-sional ethics.

World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (Customs Performance)

World Bank’s latest report was re-leased putting Qatar in the 29th rank globally and the 2nd rank among the Arab Countries in Logistics Perfor-mance Index (LPI). For calculating


Report

* The First 2 Classes of Academic Study program to Graduate

the LPI for each country, the World Bank depends on 6 key factors; namely, efficiency of the clearance process, Quality of trade and trans-port related infrastructure, Ease of arranging competitively priced ship-ments, Competence and quality of logistics services, Ability to track and trace consignments, and Timeliness of shipments in reaching destination within the scheduled or expected delivery time. This ranking bears wit-ness to a remarkable development of Qatar, which jumped 4 interna-tional ranks after ranking the 33th in the World Bank’s LIP Report in 2012, and marking 26 ranks ahead of its ranking in 2010.

Global Competitiveness Report

World Economic Form’s Global Com-petitiveness Report for the years 2015-2016, Qatar was ranked the 14th among 140 competing coun-tries, thus ranking the first among the Arab Countries. In detailed in-dexes, Qatar obtained in customs procedure burden a score of 5.4 ranking the 10th among 140 world countries measured by the Global Competitiveness Index.

A Qualitative Strategic Plan that is compatible with Qatar Vision 2030

Qatar Customs is implementing its strategic plan for the years (2014-2017), through which it has drawn up its objectives for the future phase, including over 50 projects over the coming years to achieve these objec-tives through more than 25 standard indexes.

Qatarization and Qualifying Human Resources

The General Authority of Customs has achieved a qualitative leap and outstanding achievements in the area of Qatarization and national’s employment; foremost of which is GAC’s 100% Qatarization of customs personnel at the land, sea and air ports, and attaining a general Qata-rization rate of over 94% in all posi-tions, thus putting GAC among the top government bodies in terms of Qatarization rate. This bears witness to the success of GAC’s policy aiming to depend on nationals, particularly in customs positions which are the baseline of customs work. In order to increase the human development and employees’ satisfaction, a com-

mittee has been established for per-sonnel affairs at the GAC, through which every employee can submit an application to be transferred from a customs department to another de-partment for whatever reasons, o from a position to another position, so that the application will be con-sidered and necessary action be tak-en in this regard for the best interest of both work and employee.

The Academic Education for Customs Employees

It is worth mentioning, in education field, that the General Authority of Customs has made a pioneering achievement by obtaining the aca-demic accreditation in teaching «As-sociate Diploma in Applied Science – Customs Science Specialization» for its employees by Charles Stu-art University, which is considered among the most prominent universi-ties in teaching specialized customs sciences in the world.

This international accreditation is considered to be the first of its kind in the Arab region in the Customs Science Specialization aiming to provide a full academic support to customs officers and enhance their professional expertise according to the latest international standards in applying customs work systems in its various field and administrative spe-cialties. In May 2015, the Customs witnessed the graduation of the first class from the academic study pro-

gram implemented by GAC in collab-oration with the Community College of Qatar, after successfully complet-ing the study phase, which was divid-ed into multiple sub-phases through which the first class was qualified in English and specialized customs subjects, and were then assigned to customs departments to develop the work and transfer their academic ex-pertise to their colleagues in the vari-ous customs sectors.

“Al Nadeeb” Electronic Customs Clear-ance System

The General Authority of Customs has launched several projects and strategic initiatives aiming to devel-op information technology and facil-itate procedures, foremost of which was implementing the customs clearance single window system known as “Al Nadeeb” to facilitate customs clearance electronically and increase actual cooperation between the Customs and other government bodies in respect of the importation and exportation of goods. In addi-tion, the system will help provide further control over goods, docu-


ment all procedures that help im-pose more control over all customs transactions for each consignment or parcel. Al Nadeeb System’s statis-tics indicate that over 130,000 users have been registered on the system up to the present day.

Currently, GAC is designing customs clearance system “Al Naddeb 2”, which would represent a qualitative leap in customs work and providing distinguished customs services. It is expected that a customs portal be established through it all customs services will be provided electroni-cally, and electronic systems be cre-ated for all customs positions to benefit the sectors based on operat-ing the facilities and utilities related to importation and exportation of goods.

For the third year in succession, GAC was successfully able to spread and enhance the use of “Documentary Cycle and Electronic Archiving” Pro-gram, which comes as a part of the most important programs of “pa-perless customs” project. Through that program, GAC organizes and manages documents and archiving of internal books among the differ-ent departments, so that all internal correspondence now take place in an electronically documented form, thus achieving very high speed in time, while dispensing with the use of papers.

Corporate Social Responsibility

In the field of GAC’s responsibility towards local society, a CSR plan has been implemented, showing GAC’s role in interaction with the society and local community organizations through several awareness means over the media, organizing aware-

ness lectures, publishing and distrib-uting printed matters, and paying special visits to important categories in society.

Collaboration among Ministries and Local Organizations

In 2015, GAC signed three MOUs, the first of which was signed with the Supreme Council of Health for operating the customs clearance single window system known as “Al Nadeeb” between the two parties. In addition, GAC signed a MOU with Qatar Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry on training customs brokers, whereby the Chamber would train and qualify customs brokers. GAC signed a MOU with Navigation Com-pany aiming to expand the scope of cooperation between the two sides to include the customs clearance sin-gle window system “Al Nadeeb” and “Navigation” system.

On the other hand, the “National Committee for Customs Clearance”, chaired by Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Mhan-

nadi, Vice Chairman of GAC, is hold-ing its periodic sessions to consider ways of contributing to facilitating the procedures related to import and export for a better flow of commodi-ties, accelerating the trade move-ment, and making sure that all im-port and export related bodies have updated their electronic systems to be integrated with the customs clearance system.

Miscellaneous Accomplishments

Increased cooperation and coor-dination between the Customs and Ministries, government and non-government bodies through visits, meetings and discussion sessions, aiming to find out solutions for facili-tating the procedures and complete electronic link through “Al Nadeeb” Program, and receive queries of cli-ents of all types.

The completion of client care service with visitors reaching about 2,500 clients a month.

Active participation in meetings of GCC Customs Union, and hosting the GCC Customs Union’s 11th meeting held in May 2015 in Doha, in addition to meetings of Customs Managers of North Africa, Near East and Middle East, and meeting of Word Customs Organization.

GAC has completed Phase III of the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Columbus Program, as the report issued by the WCO in this re-spect indicated the level of progress attained by Qatar Customs in all cus-toms work fields in accordance with the international standards.


1. Foreign tourist vehicles (other than vehicles registered at a GCC Member State) shall be granted a temporary entry license as follows:

A. Six months (180 days) for vehicles guaranteed by a valid Trip Ticket.

B. Three months (90 days) for ve-hicles not guaranteed by a valid Trip Ticket; however, such term shall be extended for a similar period if the beneficiary provides bank guaran-tees or a cash security equal to the value of customs “duties” levied on the vehicle.

2. To benefit from temporary entry of foreign tourist vehicles, the fol-lowing shall be a prerequisite:

A. That the vehicle is officially regis-tered in the licensing country under a relevant official document.

B. That the vehicle’s license is valid and the vehicle does not carry im-port plates.

C. An insurance coverage is pur-chased from a certified insurer op-erating in the State which covers the territories thereof throughout the temporary entry period.

D. That a Trip Ticket recognized by

Prerequisites of Temporary Entry of Foreign Tourist Vehicles

any GCC Member State is provided as a guarantee for the taxes “duties”.

3. To benefit from temporary entry of foreign tourist vehicles, the con-cerned person shall satisfy the fol-lowing requirements:

A. To be the owner of the vehicle or authorized to drive it under a spe-cial POA issued by the competent authority in the country where the vehicle is registered and duly nota-rized.

B. To have a valid residence in the country where the vehicle is regis-tered, if not a national of that coun-try.

C. To have a valid driver’s license.

4. the Trip Ticket, or any certified Carnet within the GCC States, shall be recognized by the customs de-partment and the term thereof shall cover the duration of vehicle’s tem-porary entry.

5. Students and scholars (other than GCC nationals), who study in a uni-versity or an institute in the country, are allowed to extend the duration of temporary entry for their own vehicles during the study or scholar-ship period, provided that the same

is guaranteed by a valid Trip Ticket.

6. Following procedures shall apply upon entry of a vehicle under the Trip Ticket:

A. That the number and date of tem-porary entry license, together with the term granted for it, be registered on the Trip Ticket.

B. That the relevant coupon be taken out from the Trip Ticket in cases of entry and exit.

7. The status of temporary entry of foreign vehicles shall come to an end upon their exit from the State through a customs department of a GCC State, placing the same in a free zone of a GCC State, payment of do-mestic clearance fees for same, and payment of due customs duties sub-ject to approval of the competent department.

Documentation Required:- Valid Trip Ticket

- Valid Driver’s License

- Students and scholars shall provide proof of enrollment


After their major preoccupation in the past was to increase levy of customs duties

However, with emergence of the globalization age and the conse-quential rise in the volume of inter-national trade to imaginary figures as compared to the situation in the past, together with the elimina-tion of barriers that had been im-peding the entry and exit of com-

Trade FacilitationAs is well-known, the primary objective of customs in the past was to levy customs du-ties on the international trade moving across the State’s borders, seeking to maximize these duties to the utmost possible extent by all means and ways through which the customs could generate the target revenues, paying no heed to the actions taken and ways followed to achieve that objective.

has become the most prominent aspiration of Customs Departments Worldwide

modities, individuals, and capital to and from the Countries, now, the role of Customs Departments in all world countries has radically changed, so that their first and foremost objective has become to facilitate and simplify interna-tional trade, so that the customs would rather become a supporter

of trade than an impediment to it, and one of the factors relied upon by the international community for increasing economic growth rates and continuously working to raise the standard of living in all world countries, thus bringing welfare to humans. In order to carry out that task and achieve these objectives,


the Customs Departments had to undergo a historical strategic transformation process which they have never underwent before, and Customs Departments, in all world countries the WTO, began to follow and employ all modern techniques and means, which enable them to facilitate international trade and increase the volume of internation-al trade exchange, a matter which puts more and more responsibili-ties on the shoulders of customs departments worldwide, in a time where the technological revolution has made the whole world a small village in which nothing is kept se-cret. In addition, the digital system provides to all the information and data which contribute to conduct-ing studies in a correct, accurate, and fast manner for carrying out investment projects without physi-cal borders. This fact has made the role played by Customs Depart-ments worldwide totally different from the past; or rather, this de-velopment has placed large-scale burden on the shoulder of Customs Departments to keep pace with the event, contribute directly to rais-ing global economic growth rates, increase welfare and wellbeing for humans with no regard paid to re-gional borders or geographical af-filiations.

Therefore, all world countries, without exception, began to put into practice serious and real ini-

tiatives aiming to develop their customs departments as well as the whole customs process to keep abreast with the international changes and updates, in order to keep up with the age and be in-volved in the modernity process which does not allow those who lie behind any opportunity to exist and live, until the issue of customs development and modernization has become the most important contemporary customs issue in all world countries. In addition, this issue addresses five workstreams to carry out customs development process tasks; namely:

The legislative framework which governs customs work and perfor-mance.

Human resources which manage work at the Customs Department.

Modern technology that can be employed for developing the cus-toms process.

Making coordination with the government bodies concerned with imports and exports.

Partnership with the commercial community

(Source: An Analytical Overview of Contemporary Customs Issues in the Third Millennium)


Qatar Diabetes Association›s Personnel pay visits to Land, Sea and Air Customs Outlets

for Customs Employees on the occasion of World Diabetes Day

Medical CheckupThe General Authority of Cus-toms participated in the World Diabetes Day’s events, through launching a comprehensive awareness campaign in col-laboration with Qatar Diabetes Association, aiming to raise em-ployees’ awareness of the risks and perils of diabetes and pre-ventive measures. Through this event, GAC aims to enhance the concept of corporate social responsibility and participa-tion of different organizations of the State in its important annual celebrations and activi-ties. The campaign, launched by the GAC, included awareness and educative visits to all land, sea and air outlets, in addition

to publishing and distributing awareness printed matters on diabetes to all employees at customs outlets.

Public Relations and Communi-cation Department set a four-day program through which day-to-day visits were paid to each outlet at the customs, in-cluding medical checkups for employees, in addition to rais-ing their awareness and edu-cating them on diabetes and preventive means, motivated by the Department’s keenness to collaborate with different so-ciety organizations to enhance the CSR plan.

GAC extended thanks to Qatar

Diabetes Association, most im-portantly Dr. Abdullah Al-Ham-aq, QDA’s Executive Director, for his cooperation in organiz-ing the program. Thanks were also extended to the medical team which provided its ser-vices to customs employees at the customs outlets, and the valuable role they provide to the community in general. The Program involves assigning an equipped medical team to each outlet, which comprises specialized personnel to mea-sure blood glucose level, blood pressure, length, waist circum-ference, in addition to holding educative meetings and recom-mendations to comment on the


following

outcome of checkup and giving the employee appropriate rec-ommendations for their condi-tions, in a step to improve em-ployees’ health and alert some of them who are vulnerable to diabetes.

GAC attaches importance to this annual program, for con-sidering that raising awareness of diabetes is of an overriding importance in order to deter its spread and outbreak in the community due to detrimental food and health habits to which we are accustomed in our day-to-day life.

Severity of diabetes underlie the fact that it may befall some-body without their knowledge, that’s why GAC con considers these periodic visits as impor-tant, as when diabetes befalls somebody without his knowl-edge, this minimizes their work productivity, in addition to oth-er several repercussions which may befall him unless they are examined and appropriate med-icine is prescribed for their con-ditions, so that the disease does not affect their life in general.

It is worth mentioning that the campaign program began by a

visit paid by Qatar Diabetes Association’s medical team to GAC’s headquarters, land customs’ headquarters at Abu Samra, Sea Cus-toms’ headquarters at Doha Port. The campaign events concluded by a visit to air customs’ headquarters.


Addressing the impediments facing the Customs on online purchase transactions

Mr. Tuaim Al Merri, head of Express Mail Division at Airways Cargo and Airport De-partment, asserted that online purchase has undergone large-scale developments over the past five years, and there has become a demand for “online” dealing more than ever. This has made users acquainted with the details of purchase details and customs requirements, a matter which has facilitated the customs work, speeding up release of goods and parcels. In an interview with Customs Magazine, Al Merri pointed out that imports of each shipping company operating in Qatar range between 3,000 and 5,000 consignments a day, most of which are personal consignments purchased through online marketing websites. He added that there is a large quantity of customs information received by the Express Mail being about 15,000 transactions a day. Fur-ther details on the Express Mail are in the following interview:

15,000 Transactions at Express Mail Division a day

Tuaim Al Merri:

What are the procedures carried out by the Express Mail Division and why it is named Express Mail?This division was named “Express Mail” due to speedy customs procedures it applies. As is well-known, Express Mail Companies are keen on delivering parcels to clients in the soonest possible time, and we, at the customs, our role is to receive customs informa-tion on parcels a few hours before their arrival from Express Mail Companies. Once the parcels ar-rive, we inspect them, collect cus-toms duties from clients, and then release them directly.Many people believe that any goods coming in a personal name are exempt from customs duties…How do you clarify this? If a consignment is personal, it is actually exempt from cus-

toms duties, provided that its in-voice value is less than QAR 3,000. However, when a person imports goods in large quantities, thus they turn from personal goods state

into commercial goods, or when the personal goods are of large amounts the price of which ex-ceeds QAR 3,000, customs duties are charged for them.


Review

* Personal Consign-ment is exempt from

customs duties provided its value is less than QAR 3,000

What is the difference between Express Mail (air carriage) and the Standard Mail in operation at the Post Authority?Express Mail’s parcels mostly con-tain goods and products that are purchased online. Given that these goods arrive through private com-panies; e.g. DHL, FEDEX, UPS…etc, with high speed delivery, these parcels come from the aircraft to inspection directly, and after being inspected, these companies trans-port them by personnel and ve-hicles owned by these companies from the port to the company’s headquarters and thence to cli-ents directly within a few days. On the other hand, the standard mail is transported from air carriage or ports to the Mail Building, and it is mostly light mail parcels that con-tain papers, documents or state-ments, sorted and delivered by a government team from Q-Post.What are the requirements of im-porting personal goods online?Online purchase has undergone large-scale developments over the past five years, and there has be-come a demand for “online” deal-ing more than ever. This has made users acquainted with the details of purchase details and customs requirements in a better way. In addition, imports of each shipping company range between 3,000 and 5,000 consignments a day, most of which are personal consignments purchased through online market-ing websites. As for procedures applied by the Customs, they include ensuring the presence of consignment’s particulars before arrival, carefully reviewing the amounts, names and figures set out in the Declaration. Upon arrival of the consignment, it undergoes inspection to ensure ab-sence of prohibited items and that information labeled on it matches with the information of the cus-toms declaration, in addition to collecting customs duties.However, if a parcel contains pro-hibited items, it undergoes confis-cation, and a seizure report is drawn up. If it contains restricted goods, it is sent to the concerned bodies to obtain approval for entry according

to applicable procedures. Some of these bodies provide their approval promptly, while other bodies’ ap-proval takes a few days.What’s the ratio of customs duties levied on online purchased goods? How long does the customs clear-ance process take?The ratio of customs duties is 5% on most of goods types. Customs du-ties are levied only when the con-signment is a personal one, while for certain goods, e.g. tobacco and its derivatives, the ratio of lev-ied customs duties is 100%. As for customs clearance duration, when goods come to the customs’ prem-ises, they are sorted, loaded and applied to x-ray machine, and their information is revised against the paper provided to us. In general, a parcel that satisfies the procedures and papers takes at maximum 15 to 45 minutes.How are goods stored?At the Express Mail Division, we do not store goods, because the Express Mail Division is considered only an area of a transit and deliv-ery to the companies responsible for ultimate delivery to clients, be-ing 13 various companies operating in Qatar. What is the method used to dis-pose of the goods the documents of which are not complete or their owners fail to receive them?Most goods belong to companies which are represented by their rep-resentatives. Sometimes there are delays regarding the consignments

coming in personal names but in commercial quantities; that is why the discharge of such consign-ments takes enough time to verify meeting the procedures and to summon the clients and take some information on the same. How do you handle goods contain-ing illegal substances and items?There is coordination between the General Authority of Customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the other concerned security bodies. When some prohibited substances or items are found they are seized and a minutes is written to document the incident, and then the minutes and the seized drugs are handed over to the concerned security body’s delegate so as to follow up on this matter. What are the most prohibited sub-stances and items that you have found in postal parcels?Many postal parcels are used by forgers who put inside the parcels


forged documents such as checks, certificates and contracts. Some postal cards include hashish and narcotic pills. There are some du-ties evasion cases. We have found that some shipping has put codes of exempted goods on non-exempted goods so that they could avoid pay-ing the customs duties and the re-strictions imposed on such goods.In the Courier Service Department focuses much on the invoices be-cause recently some companies have tried to avoid paying the cus-toms duties by writing amounts which are not in line with the value of the already imported goods. Such misleading has been fre-quently found. What about cases of intellectual property rights and the valuable substances such as currencies and jewelry?We have many counterfeit goods or products that come through the internet. Once we find counterfeit products we seize them since the customs fight against such goods which are rather harmful than useful, and which may have been made from health detrimental sub-stances.With regard to the jewelry and valuable items we transfer them to the General Organization for Stan-dards and Metrology to be tested. As regards the currencies we report the same to the concerned security bodies if the postal parcel includes big amounts of money. What were the most significant sei-zures last year?A short time ago we found a gang from the Central Africa Republic smuggling the marijuana inside wooden boxes of medical and golf training tools. They were sent from India to Doha through a transit gulf city. I’d like to avail myself of this opportunity to extends thanks to the Department of Operations and

* We seized compa-nies that labeled codes of exempt goods on non-ex-

empt goods

Risks Analysis which provided us with the notices and information that are useful for us in seizures, and the Ministry of Interior for their large-scale collaboration with us with the aims of seizing these ille-gal substances.What are the obstacles that face you in the inspection process with the spread of e-commerce and branching out of its fields?The most significant problems fac-ing us in this regard is that some companies issue imports orders while they do not have import li-cense. Likewise, there are com-panies that are licensed to import certain items for specific activities while they are found to import products which are not required for their scope of activities. For example, we sometimes find a res-taurant issuing an import order to import Furnishings. Likewise, an electronics company may be found to issue import order to import food substances. In such cases we summon such companies to inves-tigate the matter.In some purchase cases the goods are not accompanied by the in-voices where the companies send the invoices only on the purchas-er’s e-mail. In such cases the ship-ping companies communicate with owner of the consignment in order for him to communicate with the Customs Authority and give us the invoices through the post so that the customs can assess the prod-uct. In some cases, some clients come to receive the parcel without having an ID, which means that he is not allowed to receive the parcel. This is in addition to other prob-

lems that we face periodically. According to your experience, are there other fees levied on goods and parcels other than the customs duties?Yes. There is the customs decla-ration fee whose value is QAR 10. This is in addition to other external duties if the owner purchases prod-ucts from the USA and desires that such products are sent outside the USA.In your opinion what are the legal procedures to be applied as re-gards persons who import personal consignments for a commercial purpose or to sell them through the social media?Such practices must be fought from all aspects. The customs to fighting these practices through the ports. At the same time the other security bodies have to monitor and follow up on the commercial dealings per-formed on the websites and mar-kets, since such practices are illegal and detrimental to the Qatari mar-ket.The Anti-Smuggling Department has made great efforts in this mat-ter and closed some stores that bring their goods in this way; it raided warehouses and delivered their goods to the competent au-thorities.For our part, we in the customs seize all unlicensed commercial goods to be imported and convert-ed to the security bodies and we add the names of the owners in-volved in such practices to the list of unreliable persons where their goods are treated in the manner matching their commercial con-ducts.


Qatar as wishSomeday I wandered around the streets of my beloved country, to find its towering

minaretsIts skyrocketing towers, advanced civilization, and kind people

I spoke to myself saying O my beloved Qatar what a good omen You are a country that combines the goodness of both life and afterlife

Your living spirit is still in youYou are a country that enjoyed blessings of its Creator to be embellished

You opened your land, with mosques, and doors for the people of science and charityTo help the needy, console the grieved, and bear the nation’s burdens

Never closed its doors or turned its back to any personYou welcomed all people without discrimination as to color, gender, or religion

A Generous country with its leader and openhanded peopleBut!!!!!!

Our country will be civilized only by maintaining its roots and constantsWe will go higher and higher, distinguished by what we own which the others do

not have It is good to take what makes us go higher without leaving back what distinguishes

usChange is good, but if marred by distortion of values and constants,

It would become a fall rather than a riseI heartily wish that a committee be established

To be known as Qatar as we wishTo be concerned with changes and making us go back to our roots and constants

To move togetherTo benefit and advance without losing our constants with the change

Qatar as we wishWe wish it mighty, skyscraping, firm, and boasting

With its approach, faith, principles and valuesTo take what enriches its civilization

And makes it at top of countriesCivilized, wonderful, without prejudicing its constants

Noura Al-Hajri


Customs Eyes

Through Coordination between Customs Officer, Abu Samra Customs Department and Security Bodies

A smuggler is arrested while trying to bribe a customs officer

* Female Customs Officers prove

competence for preventing narcot-

ics entry

The General Authority of Cus-toms seized a person in flagrante delicto while paying a bribe to a customs officer, in coordination with the officer himself who re-ported to GAC in an earlier time that a person offered to pay him a bribe in return for approving the entry of a number of vehicles with forger documentation through Abu Samra land port. The accused was arrested through a trap set by way of coordination among the customs officers, director of land ports department and com-petent security bodies. Neces-sary arrangements were made to arrest the accused in flagrante delicto after he agreed with the customs officer who accepted to take the bribery amount.

In another context, Hamad In-ternational Airport’s customs of-ficers successfully aborted the smuggling of 1,113 narcotic tab-lets, when a female customs of-ficer at Hamad International Air-port suspected the handbag of a passenger coming from an Asian Country, and then referred it to inspection. Thanks to her shrewd-ness, the customs officer was able to suspect the passenger and focus on the contents of his hand-bag, given that the medical pre-scriptions he carried were untrue, and, in addition, the drugs were large in quantity and divided into 4 plastic bags that were packaged in a suspicious way, thus requiring them to be referred to inspection to ensure their contents. Upon inspection, narcotic tablets were found out. In the same context, a customs officer at Hamad International Airport was able to successfully seize 6 kilograms of narcotic mar-ijuana in a suitcase of an Asian passenger coming from his coun-try.In fact, collaboration among cus-toms officers was a major cause of facilitating the seizure process, as the Devices and Control Divi-

sion had monitored and followed up the suitcase once suspected until it arrived at the inspection terminal. Once the seizure pro-cess took place, legal actions were immediately taken, a police report was drawn up, the narcot-ics were confiscated, and then security bodies responsible for receiving it were called.In recognition of their praisewor-thy effort, H.E Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali Al-Mohannadi, Chairman of the General Authority of Customs.


The Customs foils smuggling of 629 grams of «Hashish»

The Customs foils smuggling of narcotic tab-lets mixed with coffee

A smuggler is arrested while trying to bribe a customs officer

Customs officers at Hamad International Airport were able to successfully abort an attempt for smug-gling a quantity of narcotic Hashish by an Asian passenger coming onboard of a transit flight across a GCC Member State. Suspecting the pas-senger, the customs officer was able to discover the seized substance in the pas-senger’s suitcase. The 625-gram nar-cotic substance was hidden in a secret place within the suit-case and wrapped up by a plastic bag with-in the clothes. Mr. Ajab Mansour Al-Qa-

Customs officers at Hamad In-ternational Airport were able to successfully abort an attempt for smuggling a quantity of narcotic tablets by an Arabian passenger coming onboard of a direct flight from his Country. Suspecting the passenger, the customs officer was able to dis-cover the seized narcotic sub-stances in his suitcase. These narcotics, being 2 plastic bags containing coffee, were hidden in a secret place within the suitcase, and upon carefully examining the coffee, it was found out to be mixed with tablets suspected to be narcotic tablets. To avoid sei-zure, smugglers have created a way for mixing narcotics with var-ious foodstuff, with many varying smuggling cases seized lately that hide narcotics in dates, ghee and cheese keeping containers, in addition to mixing narcotic tab-lets in nuts and desert packets.

htani, acting Director of HIA Cus-toms, pointed out that a seizure report was drawn up, and seized narcotics were delivered to secu-rity bodies to complete necessary legal procedures, maintaining that the largest ratio of narcotics smuggling operations is carried out by the passengers at Passen-ger Terminal, as the smuggling process takes place personally in most cases.

Al-Qahtani advised passengers not to hold suitcases that are not theirs, and they must ensure the contents of their suitcases, be-cause each suitcase carries the name of its holder and for which he is fully responsible, maintain-ing that several similar cases were detected and found out to be containing prohibited sub-stances.

In this context, it is worth mentioning that HIA’s customs officers have been seizing large quan-tities of prohibited substances, which are hidden in differ-ent secret ways, and the training course they continuously attend have largely enhanced their abil-ity to identify the newest ways for hiding prohibited items. In addition, GAC have provided customs ports with state-of-the-art ex-amination devices that are able to de-tect narcotics, or-ganic substances, and other prohib-ited and restricted substances.


Footage from the past

Doha Port during the period of the sixties

Doha Airport in the seventies

Customs building in the seventies

The chance in the fifties


How can we deal with life pressures? Having belief in Acts of God: The largest source of peace of mind is the heavenly message to us that what is predestined to us won’t surpass us, and what is not predestined for us won’t be ours even if we exert great effort, thus we gain satisfaction and peace of mind, and draw our attention to more important things.Talking to others: many people believe that concealing mat-ters is some type of power and mighty. This is wrong belief, which has considerable impact on the health, psychological and behavioral state. So, you should enjoy talking to others, and you are going to feel that the heavy burden overwhelming you no longer exists and your soul is go-ing to fly again.Focus on the solution rather than the problem: it is an important part and will generate several so-lutions for you, while your focus on the problem will make you move in a closed circle you are not going to leave.Exerting diligent effort for a so-lution and then leaving the mat-ter up to God: God is wiser and knowledgeable than you, so when exhaust many attempt, thus you have gained the honor of trying and done your duty, so you should expect a happy out-come from God, but you should keep trying in other ways and new ways out. Do not worry, a happy outcome is imminent, but do not despair or be anxious.Remember the impact of psycho-logical trouble on your health, productivity and life dream: Re-member the impact of this seri-ous reality of pressures, tension and anxiety, and probably exces-sive smoking or sleeplessness on your health and life future, as the disaster may occur within a few minutes and your dream might perish in front of you. So, take

matters easy and do not wrong yourself, as the outcome would be disastrous, and always re-member your family and beloved people.Seek advice from professionals in each art and science: When you encounter any problem or pres-sure, you should consult people of expertise, as they have many ideas which have not come to your mind, and for which you are in a dire need.Avail yourself of other people’s experiences: when a problem encounters you, you will find out solutions for it in other people’s experiences, so, you should never disregard other people’s experi-ences, as they contain many con-siderations and solutions, and in which you might find something which you will never come across in books.Give yourself a quarterly leave: To mitigate your pressures and stress, you should give yourself a quarterly leave for a few days, in addition to enjoying yourself to the fullest on weekends. Do not mix up things here; as work has a time, while rest and recre-ation have a time. Enjoy good moments and do not miss them under the pretense that you are burdened with challenges and problems.Delegate work to others and do not be centralized: Keep away from centralization as much as possible, and delegate many powers to people you trust, as thus you are going to carry out much work, mitigate your bur-dens, maximize productivity and achieve your objectives.Control your nerves, and handle problems and pressures patient-ly: you might undergo tensions, anxieties and continuous pres-sure, which will make you lose the most important thing you have; namely, your reason. Thus,

your reason will stop working, and you are going to feel confu-sion, strain, and inability to think, which have negative consequenc-es. So, be patient and handle ev-erything quietly and tolerantly, and do not flare up. Do not move with no ceiling, ob-jective or a predefined plan: set written, realistic objectives with little challenge, and do not work aimlessly, as thus, you are going to turn yourself into waste energy with no destination or direction. Focus on splitting large strategic objectives into multiple phases, and by then you will achieve your objectives, and always remember that successful people spend 80% of their time and effort planning and only 20% for implementa-tion.


ahmed bin ali al-mohannadi · thevery year on december 18 , the people of qatar a re overwhelmed by...

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