Does Qatar Need a New Maritime Law? Part (3)
We concluded in the previous article that, after elapse of more than forty years the issuance of Qatari Maritime Law No. 15 for year 1980, a question was raised: Is the assembling of all legislative provisions regulating Qatari maritime navigation within a new Law better for the Qatari maritime community, or do these laws remain divergent?
Through examining the maritime laws in the neighboring countries, we find that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued a new commercial maritime system under Royal Decree No. (M/33) dated 05/04/1440 AH, as it consisted of a preamble, and three hundred and ninety one articles.
It is worth noting that the new Saudi maritime system was established in detail via its various articles, as its first article included a definition of thirty nine terms related to the various aspects of maritime navigation affairs.
In consideration of the developments in the international navigation, the challenges emerged by the impact of Corona Virus epidemic crisis on the international trade contracts, foremost of which is the maritime trade, as well as the most important investment in the field of gas exploration in Qatari waters, and in light of the developments of Qatari seaports with their matching to their global counterparts, in terms of modernity, accommodation, readiness, diversity, expansion and sustainability, in addition to the call for the establishment of specialized arbitration chamber for maritime disputes, to be the nucleus of future specialized maritime court in Doha, as judges in maritime disputes are being trained and qualified in the same manner as those judges of the English Naval Court.
According to all previous data; we find that it is desirable to include the current Qatari Maritime Law No. 15 of 1980, which reflects the developments of modern maritime navigation, to keep pace with all developments in the marine transport sector, seaports, and recent challenges in the maritime fields with their all forms, and to put in place a mechanism to end any dispute as soon as possible in conformity with the nature of marine transactions.
To be continued