The Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry has joined the International Certificate of Origin (CO) Accreditation Chain, according to a press statement issued by the Chamber  Tuesday.

The statement said that the announcement was made during an International CO Council meeting, which took place in Jaipur, India. Qatar Chamber and ICC Qatar participated in the meeting.

With its newly established status as the 24th member country of the CO Chain, the Qatar Chamber would benefit from the use of the internationally recognized ICC CO label. The new service will enable private companies and Qatar Chamber members to apply to get
Certificates of Origin via Chamber's website, without visiting the chamber headquarter.

Commenting on the announcement, Qatar Chamber Director-General Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi said that the chamber would issue COs online starting from the second quarter of 2019, noting that this step would provide impulse to stimulate trade and increase non-oil exports of the country.

The Qatar Chamber issued more than 25339 COs during the first nine months of the current year including 1158 online COs, he pointed out.

Al Sharqi said that the system will help businessmen and companies to save time and effort as well as it will contribute to streamlining trade and flourishing trade between Qatar and world countries.

The manual transaction for the COs will continue along side with the online COs because there are still many countries which do not deal with online COs, he added.

For her part, HE Director of international relations and chambers affairs at Qatar Chamber and ICC Qatar Sheikha Tamader Al-Thani said that the chamber would hold a workshop in cooperation with the ICC on the online COs next January in order to raise the awareness on its benefits and how it is issued in line with standards approved by the ICC.

The Qatar Chamber currently reviews the cooperation with a Singaporean company to set up an electronic platform for issuing COs, she noted.

On the mechanism of issuance the COs, she said that applying for the service will be through the Chamber's website.

The Qatar Chamber will review the submitted data and approve it electronically. The applicant can print the approved electronic certificate of origin or upload it from the website.
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