DOHA: A law to clamp down on illegal street vendors and ban licensed vendors from running after customers or making announcements or noise to sell their goods is on the anvil.
There are hardly any street vendors in the country except the roadside watch and shoe repair shops and the ones operating illegally in the Industrial Area on weekends.
Then there are the vendors who appear during the fasting month of Ramadan selling food items, but they are all licensed.
No vendor, even if licensed, will be allowed to solicit customers by making noise of any kind or by making announcements verbally or with a microphone once the draft law is approved and implemented.
No vending activity is to be allowed near educational institutions, hospitals and health centres after the proposed law comes into force.
The draft law has been prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and sent to the agencies concerned to get their opinion.
The proposed law, as reported by this newspaper earlier, will apply to all business and industrial establishments as well as offices, including clinics, and to some online trading activities.
The draft law asks the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning to identify areas, including neighbourhoods and streets, where no commercial activity can be carried out. It also seeks to instruct the civic ministry to identify the commercial activities that can be conducted in residential areas and those that cannot be carried out.
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