QatarPersonal Data Privacy Protection Law, special-nature personal data
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In force since 1 January 2017.
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 29 August 2026.
What it requires
- An app processing a data category the PDPPL treats as special in nature (ethnic origin, children's data, health, physical or psychological condition, religious creeds, marital relations, or criminal offenses) about an individual in Qatar must obtain permission from the Competent Department; Qatar's PDPPL does not currently name biometric data as its own special-nature category, so an app processing a voiceprint or faceprint should not assume this permission requirement applies without a further check of any ministerial decision that may have added it.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Art. 16 lists ethnic origin, children's data, health, physical or psychological condition, religious creeds, marital relations, and criminal offenses as "Personal Data with Special Nature."
Biometric data is not named, unlike the UAE, Saudi, Oman, and Jordan statutes researched in this batch, a real gap rather than a research omission: the Minister may add other categories by decision where misuse could cause serious damage (Art. 16, para. 2), but no evidence that this power has been exercised for biometric data was found.
Processing special-nature data requires "permission from the Competent Department, as per the measures and controls determined by a decision issued by the Minister" (Art. 16, para. 3), and a violation carries the higher QAR 5,000,000 penalty tier under Art. 24. A voiceprint or faceprint might be captured under "physical... condition" by a stretched reading, but that fit is not textually confirmed, so Qatar's PDPPL is not coded here as reaching biometric identifiers as a heightened category.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official statute text, National Cyber Security Agency document library
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.