The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Qatar Waives Customs on 800 Items

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Qatar is set to exempt over 800 products from customs duties in the bilateral trade between the member countries from next year. The GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee has finalised the list of products, which would be submitted before GCC supreme summit slated to be held in Riyadh next week for the final nod.

Once the Riyadh summit approves the list, the exemption of customs tariff will come into effect at all the member-countries from January 2012. The tax exemptions and regulations are being implemented strictly in keeping with international trade laws.

The list contains 811 products ranging from food items to aircraft. Agricultural products, medicines, ships and boats, household items, journals, scientific bulletins and IT products are among other items included in the duty-free list. The list pending sanction allows expatriates who are visiting a member country for the first time to bring in household articles. These articles would also be exempted from custom duty. The items being used for domestic purposes will be free from duty. The unified custom tariff bill exempts a total of 50 different personal commodities.

The custom duty-free list bans the trade of 27 articles, including drugs. The bilateral trade of used cars, buses, and trucks has been banned in the new proposal. The import and export of used aircraft between the member-countries is also banned, the new proposal says.

The GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee hopes the decision would help boost bilateral trade between GCC countries and increase the demand for its products in the international markets.

A meeting of GCC foreign minister was held last week to as a precursor to the December 19 Riyadh summit. The agenda of the GCC summit includes a whole range of new regional developments including politics, military cooperation, security affairs, economy and environmental issues. The two-day summit, the first since the region-wide protests unseated three veteran Arab leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, will also look at possible ways to solve crises in a number of neighbouring states in the region.