. The Supreme Council’s resolution (9th session, December 1988) allowed GCC nationals to own shares in stock-companies and transfer ownership according to the rules appended thereto. Those rules were amended by the Supreme Council’s resolution (15th session, December 1994). The said rules exclude some corporations such as insurance companies and banks. They also allow imposing other restrictions on the Stock ownership and formation of corporations. All Member States, excluding Qatar, have issued implementing directives to this effect.
2. The practical application of those rules proved that only a small number of GCC nationals have benefited from those rules, while other GCC nationals have refrained from investment in this activity because of the strict controls and exclusions thereof.
3. In line with the GCC Economic Agreement, the Supreme Council’s resolution ( 23rd session, December, 2002) provided for equal tax treatment of the GCC nationals in the field of Stock ownership and formation of corporations and the "elimination of all the restrictions preventing that" by 2002 at the latest.
4. By 2005, all Member States have issued resolutions according equal treatment to the GCC nationals engaged in this activity, subject to specific controls in some cases.
5. Since the practical implementation of that resolution requires technical and legal mechanisms that allow GCC nationals and capital corporations to benefit from said resolution, therefore, an international consulting company was hired to develop the necessary mechanisms for the development and integration of the GCC capital markets. The said study was completed in April 2005. The competent committees are currently reviewing these mechanisms to be submitted to the Supreme Council for approval.