Doha, Qatar: Under the auspices and attendance of Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, HE Ibrahim bin Ali Al Mohannadi, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on Sunday organized a legal symposium on the legal rules governing cheques: between legal effectiveness and economic and social impacts.
The event was attended by Attorney General HE Dr. Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi, Cabinet Secretary-General HE Hamad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, HE Saeed bin Abdullah Al Suwaidi, alongside Their Excellencies, Assistant Undersecretaries of Ministries, representatives of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), and directors of legal affairs departments in several ministries and government agencies.
It was intended to spotlight the cheques and their legal regulation, in addition to analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of criminal protection for checks, enhancing legal awareness regarding them, presenting alternatives and options for criminal protection of checks, and fostering dialogue and exchange of expertise among legal professionals on this matter.
In his opening remarks, Director of the MoJ's Legal and Judicial Studies Center, Dr. Abdullah Hamad Al Khalidi, stressed the importance of this symposium, which convened in-the-know specialists from the ministry, as well as the SJC and Public Prosecution, to weigh in on the legal takes on the legal rules governing cheques, after this topic had raised controversies in academic, professional, and societal circles alike, given the significant attention accorded by the Qatari legislator to this negotiable instrument.
The Judicial Enforcement Law No. (4) of 2024 recognizes checks as enforceable instruments, thereby amplifying the practical significance of this negotiable instrument. As its importance grows, so do the challenges it poses, reflecting directly on the economic and social landscape of the nation, Al Khalidi said.
Al Khalidi added that the center organized this symposium with a view to reaching recommendations attached to the participants' takes. He indicated that the center provides a platform to nurture knowledge and share viewpoints to ultimately reach innovative legal trends, in terms of realistic issues that concern Qatari society.
The event offers the opportunity to deliberate on the viewpoints of experts and specialists pertaining to the legal rules regulating cheques. The organization of this event is part of the MoJ's commitment to excellence and innovation in spurring scientific research, raising awareness of all community segments, and providing a platform that exchanges perspectives and promotes relationships among the legal community, Al Khalidi underlined.
In two panel discussions, the event weighed in on the problems raised by cheques and their legal regulation, with the first panel, in its first thematic topic, tackling the subject of the cheque as a negotiable instrument, including its legal regulation under Qatar Law No. (27) of 2006, the Commercial Transactions Law, and comparative law.
The second panel, in its second thematic topic, drilled down on the legal nature of the cheque in light of the rulings of the Qatari Court of Cassation (a payment instrument or a credit instrument), and the trends pursued by other courts of cassation in other nations regarding the characterization of the cheque.
The event's second panel addressed the criminal protection of cheques in light of recent legislative amendments, with the panel's first thematic topic discussing the criminal protection of cheques under Qatar's Penal Code Law No. 11 of 2004, along with the criminal protection of cheques in comparative law.
The second thematic topic reviewed the procedures for enforcing the value of the cheque as an executable instrument under Qatar's Judicial Execution Law issued under Law No. 4 of 2024, along with the comparative law experience in conferring the status of an executable instrument on the cheque.
The final panel explored criminal protection alternatives for cheques and legal proposals for their retention or abolition, with the open panel presenting proposals on the amendment of cheque provisions in the Commercial Law considering the provisions of the Judicial Enforcement Law.
