Cabinet okays draft law to ban littering in public areas

DOHA: The State Cabinet yesterday approved a draft law that bans leaving waste in public areas, even if it is privately owned. The cabinet agreed to refer the draft to the Advisory Council. It was prepared to replace law No .8 of 1974.

The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani chaired the Cabinet’s ordinary meeting, held at the Emiri Diwan.

The draft law prevents dropping or leaving trash in any public area even if it was privately owned. This includes roof tops, balconies, pavements, alleys, beaches and many others.

Dumping of garbage will be strictly restricted to areas determined by the municipality.

The municipality will also be in charge of all aspects of the cleaning projects. It can also decide to recycle or treat garbage. The municipality is allowed to offer those duties to one or more contractors, in accordance with the provisions of the law.

The cabinet also approved a proposal by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs to establish a national committee for combating human trafficking. The committee would be chaired by a representative from the ministry and would have members representing the designated authorities.

Some of the roles of the committee would be to prepare a national plan to counter human trafficking and preparing an annual report on Qatar’s efforts in the field.

The Cabinet approved a draft law on national address, which will be referred to the Advisory Council. The draft says that those assigned must provide their national address to the specialised administrative unit at the Ministry of Interior in a set time period. Any judicial declaration or other official notification delivered to the national address are considered valid according to the new draft.

Cabinet nod to change in law on food

The cabinet approved an amendment to some provisions of law no. 8 of 1990 on regulating food made for human consumption. The new draft states that the decision to close a given branch must be published on the website of the authority that issued the decision and in two local newspapers with a large circulation. The costs should be covered by the branch that violated the law.

Another item on the agenda was a draft law regulating the auditing profession. The new law is being prepared to replace law no 30 of 2004. The new draft included provisions pertaining to the right and duties of auditors, as well as their disciplinary accountability among others. The cabinet then approved a proposal by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to make a financial contribution to Unesco educational programmes.