DOHA: Further tightening screws on charity bodies, the government plans to bar them from using the name ‘Qatar’ while sending remittances for relief and welfare work overseas.
The State Cabinet yesterday approved draft ministerial decisions that seek to further tighten screws on private charitable organisations.
The drafts seek to make it binding on private charities to seek official approval at every step of their operation, from mobilising funds to sending remittances abroad.
The draft decisions were issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as private charities fall under the jurisdiction of Social Affairs Department.
A private charity must only use its name and not the name of Qatar with it while sending funds to another country.
For instance, a charitable body named ‘A’, while remitting funds overseas for relief and welfare must write only ‘A’, and not ‘A from Qatar’. The draft decisions contain extensive rules for private charities to collect donations, open bank accounts and send funds to other countries.
They must seek permission from the Regulatory Authority for Charitable Works to collect donations and send funds abroad.
Anyone joining a foreign charity or association or wanting to send donations abroad must also seek the Authority’s permission once the draft decisions come into force. The drafts also detail procedures to set up private charities in the country.
Likewise, a draft law was also approved by the State Cabinet at its weekly meeting yesterday regulating the collection of Zakat (obligatory alms a Muslim must give away once a year as a percentage of his income).
The draft seeks to authorise only the Zakat Fund Department of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to receive and handle Zakat money given away by individuals and corporations.
The Department will have the authority to entrust some associations or private institutions or even companies with receiving Zakat money for a specific period after approval of the Ministry.
Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday that no parties or persons shall, under any circumstance, collect Zakat for spending it without obtaining approval from the Department of Zakat Fund. The Peninsula
