| Publish Date: Tuesday,18 July, 2006, at 11:34 AM Doha Time |
THE functioning of travel agencies in Qatar shall henceforth be governed by a law that was issued by HH the Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, yesterday.
The Law No. 26 of 2006 consists of 17 Articles that seek to regulate the functioning of the travel industry in the country.
Among the salient features of the law are that the licence for establishing a travel agency shall henceforth be issued only to Qataris and GCC citizens who have adequate experience in this trade and who have had an unblemished personal track record.
QR200,000 should be deposited with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as caution deposit by a licence-holder. This amount shall be used for payment of amount that may become due from the travel agency.
The licence shall be valid for only one calendar year but can be renewed every year on fulfilling the terms and conditions. It cannot be transferred before the completion of three years.
The initial charges for issuing the licence shall be QR10,000 and every subsequent renewal will cost QR5,000. The board of directors of the CAA shall decide on the approval or non-approval of the application for licences.
The travel agency may set up one or more branch offices in the country provided that QR2,500 is paid as annual fee for each branch. Non-payment of the annual fee shall result in a penalty to be paid by the licence-holder. The amount of penalty may vary from QR1,000 to QR25,000. Similar penalty shall be payable in the event of a licence-holder carrying out any other unlicensed activity.
The licence may be cancelled in the event of the travel agency becoming dysfunctional for a period of three months; or carrying out unlicensed business activities; or violating the conditions pertaining to the nationality and personal track record; or non-renewal of the licence within 30 days of its expiry.
A travel agency may organise Haj and ‘Umrah tours provided that a separate desk is allocated for this purpose within the premises.
The travel agency should function in a purpose-built premises on the basis of a design approved by any accredited consultant engineering firm in Qatar.
Officials of the CAA are authorised to act as law enforcement officers and carry out periodical checks on the travel agencies.
All the existing travel agencies should do the needful to comply with this law within a period not exceeding six months from the date of issuance of this law. The CAA board chairman may however, at his discretion, grant an extension of further six months.
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