QNA/Doha

The weekly Cabinet meeting,  presided over by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, yesterday approved a draft law amending some provisions of the Labour Law No 14 of 2004 and decided to submit it to the Advisory Council.

The amendment relates to transfer of salaries of workers by employers to banks.

As per the amendment, wages of workers who are hired based on an annual or a monthly salary are to be paid at least once a month, and wages of all other workers are to be paid at least once every two weeks.

The employer must transfer the workers’ wages to their account at one of the financial institutions so that they can be withdrawn by the scheduled date.

An employer shall be accountable for the workers’ wages until these procedures are met.

Regulations to protect workers’ wages shall be issued in a decision by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.

The meeting also approved a draft law on the system of electing members of the Central Municipal Council and decided to submit it to the Advisory Council.

The draft law included provisions related to voters, registration lists, candidacy, voting procedures, campaigning, and challenging the validity of the elections as well as abolishing memberships.

The Cabinet issued a draft law waiving customs duty for some goods.

As per the draft law, customs duties shall be waived for some of the goods used by persons with disabilities, which are imported for government entities in charge of taking care of people with disabilities, associations licensed to care for them, or for personal use by GCC nationals of cardholders of people with special needs.

The meeting also approved a proposal by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to form a working group to co-ordinate on issues of e-commerce between the Ministry of Economy and Trade and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. 

The application of the provisions of Law No 24 of 2002 on retirement and pensions for Qatari employees in the behavioural health support centre was also approved. 

The Cabinet reviewed the following topics and took the appropriate decisions: 

1- The proposals concerning the development of the family courts in Qatar, and the views of the Supreme Judiciary Council and the Ministry of Justice in this regard. 

2- The Ministry of Environment’s letter regarding the outcome of the 33rd session of the general assembly of the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development, which was held in Kuwait in May. 

3- The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s letter regarding the periodic report on the work of the steering committee for e-government from October 2013 until March 2014. 

This committee is in charge of monitoring the implementation of e-government strategy and the achievement of the rules of co-ordination and communication between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology as well as ministries and other government agencies to ensure that the plans and programmes of these parties are aligned with the overall strategy of e-government.  

The report stated that the committee has developed an operational framework for e-government programmes, and developing the strategy for 2020, as well as the development of key policies for e-government programme and measuring the technical readiness for digital transformation of government agencies, and the development of e-government services. 

4- The Minister of Justice’s letter on the draft protocol attached to the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention on the establishment of an Arab court to restore proceeds resulting from corruption.

The Cabinet also ratified the following: 

a- A memorandum of understanding for co-operation in the field of education, higher education and scientific research between the governments of Qatar and Ethiopia.

b- An MoU on consultation between the foreign ministries of Qatar and Spain.

Shares of non-Qatari investors exempted from income tax

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 exempting shares of non-Qatari investors in some companies and investment funds from income tax. As per the draft law, shares of non-Qatari investors in companies and investment funds that are traded in the financial market will be exempted from income tax. Their shares of profit from the trading of all securities including units of investment funds listed in the financial market are to be exempted as well.