Travellers arriving in Qatar or departing will have to declare if they are carrying cash, jewellery or any financial instruments worth QR50,000 or more, it has been announced.
In a statement Wednesday, the General Authority of Customs (GAC) said travellers will have to fill up the declaration form at the designated Customs offices located at all air, sea and land ports of the country.
This is part of the enforcement of Law No. 20 of 2019 on combating money laundering and terrorism financing and Cabinet Decision No. 41 of 2019 on the executive regulations of the same law.
The GAC said the items that travellers are required to declare include currency notes, whether Qatari riyals or foreign currency, and financial instruments that can be used for transactions such as a document in the name of the bearer. These include traveller's cheques, bank cheques, signed payment orders and bonds, among others.
Also, travellers need to declare precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and others as well as precious stones such as diamond, pearl, emerald, sapphire, etc if they are worth over QR50,000.
The authority explained that a traveller has to voluntarily fill up the designated form in case he/she is carrying QR50,000 or more, or its equivalent in the form of the above-mentioned items, besides submitting any related and additional information required by the GAC officials.
Providing false information, not submitting a written declaration in the first place or refusing to supply the necessary details required by the GAC, such as the source of the money, would entail jail sentences of up to three years or fines ranging from QR100,000-500,000 or double the sum of the value of the money in question, whichever is higher, the statement noted.
In addition, the money found on the passenger would be seized.
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