The Ministry of Commerce and Industry called on citizens wishing to conduct their commercial activity from home to apply for a home license within the terms and conditions for granting temporary licenses to conduct commercial business at home.
The Ministry announced, through its official account on Twitter, that the documents required for Qatari citizens wishing to apply for a home license have been reduced and limited to three basic requirements: a copy of the address plate of the property to be licensed, a copy of the applicant’s ID card showing the address, and a copy of the owner’s ID card. real estate
In the past, the required documents amounted to more than 9 main mandatory items for the commercial license applicant, but the ministry recently reduced them to only 3 basic items. This comes within the framework of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s keenness to regulate the business environment and create a stimulating investment environment for the private sector, entrepreneurs and owners of small and home projects.
Regulating commercial activities
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry had announced an initiative to grant licenses to conduct commercial businesses at home, which consists of activities that do not require high costs, rely on personal skills mainly, and do not use disturbing equipment for comfort or dangerous materials, and the aim is to obtain a measure of profit and save costs. living for the licensee and his family.
The initiative aims to organize the practice of commercial activities from home, open opportunities for entrepreneurs and owners of small projects and urge them to innovate, develop and support their capabilities and ideas, to invest in their projects, by allowing them to engage in some commercial activities from their homes, which constitutes an incentive to expand and develop their projects and open Shops and contribute to economic development and economic diversification.
Permitted activities and fees
The activities allowed to be practiced in homes include sewing and embroidery, and event services, including (photographing weddings and events, making antiques and gifts, preparing and wrapping gifts, designing cards and gifts manually, and arranging natural and artificial flowers) in addition to electronic services, which include (electronic designs using a computer, with the exception of engineering designs, which It falls under the jurisdiction of engineering offices), and service works such as cooking services, copying, wrapping and binding school books, and beauty activities such as work and preparation of perfumes, smokes, and cosmetics, in addition to food activities such as preparing coffee, spices, and spices, and preparing and preparing meals.
Regarding the required fees, the Ministry stated on its official website that the fees for a commercial license to conduct business in homes are 1020 riyals annually.
Discuss the main challenges
In this context, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently held an open meeting with a number of entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises and home-based projects, with the aim of discussing the most important challenges facing this sector, and discussing solutions to develop it.
The Ministry affirmed that organizing and supporting the local entrepreneurship sector and small and medium enterprises is a priority on the list of state concerns, as it represents a basic pillar of economic diversification, stimulating investment movement and enhancing the contribution of innovation in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
Innovative initiatives and projects
The Ministry stated that it launched many innovative initiatives and projects, and also worked to provide an attractive legislative environment by updating laws and regulations that support the local entrepreneurship sector and contribute to its advancement in a way that serves the goals and directions of the state in this regard.
The meeting touched on the most important challenges posed by entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises in order to establish and develop their commercial projects, which centered on the procedures for establishing companies and the laws and legislation regulating investments. The most prominent projects and initiatives launched by the Ministry in order to support the entrepreneurship sector were also highlighted. And its advancement, in addition to reviewing a number of proposals that would support the success of projects and reduce these challenges.
New service package
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Interior have also announced the launch of a package of new services that expand the scope of single window services and facilitate company registration procedures, which became effective on June 18, 2023. The new updates allow investors to benefit from fully digitized services, without the need for Visit the websites of the concerned ministries or their headquarters to complete any required steps.
The services provided include improving the process of issuing commercial records, by reducing registration requirements and automating internal audit procedures and reviews with government agencies. The establishment’s registration number has been automatically added to the commercial register when it is issued through the single window, and labor approvals will be issued automatically with each new commercial register by linking with the Ministry of Labor. In addition, the electronic facility registration card and labor recruitment approvals will be issued directly in the electronic wallet of the Metrash 2 program, as a result of the fruitful cooperation that took place with the Ministry of Interior by linking the systems directly to the single window platform.
The requirements for opening bank accounts have also been reduced, and company owners can open a bank account through the commercial registry and memorandum of association only, in addition to the regulatory requirements for banks.
Reducing the number of steps required
Under these improvements, the number of steps required to conduct business has been reduced based on the best practices that were taken into account when designing the investor’s journey, in cooperation with the Civil Service and Governmental Development Bureau. Now it will be possible to issue a commercial registration and start doing business in just one day.
As for the categories of companies benefiting from the new decision package, they are newly established companies, as they will have a set of facilities aimed at facilitating their establishment procedures, attracting the required competencies, and issuing the necessary visas.
Startups will be able to obtain immediate labor approvals during the establishment phase through direct extraction of the commercial register, through the single window platform. With regard to the diversity of nationalities of workers that can be recruited, the choice of nationalities will be available to investors through the single window.
Single window services
The package of smart electronic services within the single window of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry includes about 27 main services and 149 sub-services. Mobile, comprehensive modification service, adding a branch, issuing a subsidiary license, contract management services for contracting foreign companies, comprehensive closure, issuance of home licenses, and others.
