Go talk to the mudeer – Qatar Navigation and Customs story

24 Sep, 2009  Annoyances

Now it’s time to talk about lovely Qatar Navigation and Customs. I seriously sometimes don’t understand how people survive in Qatar when it comes to running a business or even trying to do something nice!

So I traveled to Shanghai a while back so that I could go and get some freebies made, heart shaped heat packs, beachballs, stressballs, etc… I had planned to give them all away as gifts, especially to schools and to underpriveledged people as a forum of charity.

I was told two weeks ago that the delivery arrived. I received the papers but it was in iLoveQatar.net’s name. I Love Qatar is the subsidiary and the master company is H.U.G. I was told I had to pay the total of 1,060 QR for various fees like processing documents, storage, handeling etc… by Qatar Freights. Sure no problemo. Paid. Got a paper. Sent the delivery guy to pick up the stuff from the port.

“No, you can’t have the stuff. Give us a Commercial Registration number, traders license, and authorization letter from I Love Qatar”.
We can’t! ILQ is a subsidiary under H.U.G. we can give you the H.U.G. documents if you want…. No they don’t want that…

So I get two letters, one from Qatar Freight, and one from the company that shipped the items stating that the stuff was intended for H.U.G. and that ILQ was a mistake.

“No, it wont work.”, the little man says,  ”But I do have some solutions… either 1) Give me 700 QR and I’ll finish it off for you 2) Get me the documents or 3) Speak to the mudeer (the boss).”

Wait what? He wants me to bribe him? Is this another fee? Sorry, screw that. So I get all documents changed and scanned over to me from Shanghai. The delivery guy takes it over during Eid.

The same man’s there “Oh there aren’t originals, so there’s a 500 QR charge”. What the hell?! On top of that he wants to charge 700 QR to let the truck in to pick up the goods and a 5% customs charge.

But they’re free stuff! They’re gifts! The letters from the delivery company and the manufacturer states that they’re all gifts and not for sale…

The guy has more solutions, oh how nice, “1) Talk to the mudeer and we wont charge you 2) pay everything off or 3) find someone else to help you”

What’s going on here? After paying all these charges, I’m spending 30% of the total value of the goods! Why aren’t there clear rules? Where are the other managers to sort this out?

Now I like to follow the rules. I don’t want to speak to the mudeer. I know the mudeer, he’s a friend but why should I bother him?.. Even while following the rules, we’re all humans and I hope that there can either be some transparancy or a degree of flexibility. *sighs*

  • MT

    Hey Bro,

    They charge you for the items based on the your cost (the amount you paid to purchase them) and not the amount that you will charge for them in Qatar. That is why you got charged even though they were gifts.

    I have to go through this process every time I get a shipment for my business. There are a lot of fees and fines to watch out for and in the beginning I was coming close to the 30% figure you mentioned. In fact one time I had some small parts sent by courier and because of the flat fee system for fines and fees I ended up paying something like 3 times the value of the items!

    As a rough guide you need:

    For Air Shipment being received in Doha International Airport

    - Certificate of Origin – Signed and stamped by the Chamber of Commerce that the exporter is affiliated to.

    - Original Invoice – Signed and stamped by the Chamber of Commerce that the exporter is affiliated to.

    - Packing List of the items in the shipment

    - Delivery Order – Handled by the ground handling company

    If I remember correctly you might also need the Bill of Lading and Cargo manifest too which is handled by the shipping company.

    Now for a schedule of fees:

    Customs Duty – 5% of the value of goods

    Legalization of Documents – around QR 600 but might vary

    Customs Clearance Agent – around QR 250

    Delivery Order fee – around QR 150

    Fine for missing or incomplete documents – I believe around QR 500 each for the invoice and certificate of origin or 1% of the value of goods whichever is higher. There are other fines too and it is very easy to get fined.

    You also have Forklift fees, ground transportation fees and many many other fees that can accumulate to quite a large amount.

    Now the 5% customs fee is fair because it is proportional to the value of goods you ship however the other fees and requirements are unfair towards small businessmen.

    For example if the typical shipment I receive is around QR 35,000 worth of goods I would be looking at paying around 5 to 10% the value of goods just in fees and the occasional fines. A large company with a typical shipment of QR 350,000 would only have to pay 0.5% of the value of their shipments.

    A number of countries have their fees and fines proportional to the size of shipment. They even waive the document requirements below a certain amount (usually around $ 5000 to $10,000) which saves a lot of time and hassle and really helps smaller businesses.

  • Kei

    That’s why we need MT’s guides on ILQ’s forums :P

    Either way though, bribery, hidden fees and not getting anything done if you don’t speak to the mudeer shouldn’t be have to be part of the process.

  • Kei

    Here’s some guides that I’m writing and it would be nice to perhaps some of your guides to.

    “How to import things (for a business/personal)”
    “How to get a car license.”
    “How to hire a live-in maid.”
    “What to do to hire someone for a business.”
    “How to import a dog”
    etc….

    I’ve got the answers and am writing up some guides for some but it would be nice to have alternative guides or views.

  • MT

    Would you be able to Wikify the guides? so let’s say someone has more up to date information than what I posted it will be great if they can update it and then have it come up to the mods for review.

    Another idea for a guide:
    “A guide for cow tipping in Oklahoma” (Inside joke that I hope Kei gets :P )

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    Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the Qatari Government is a signatory of states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any medias and regardless of any frontiers.

    The Emiri Decision Number 86 of the year 2007 on the establishment of the Doha Free Information Centre marked yet another step towards establishing a State of rights and freedom of speech. The decision stipulated that the Centre be a non-profit organization, headquartered in Doha City, and have the authority to establish other affiliated centres inside and outside Qatar. It is worth mentioning that His Highness the Emir issued a decision in 1998 annulling the ministry of information, giving birth to a new era of freedom of speech where censorship was removed from local media.