New law exempts customs duty on imported cement

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.