Qatar: passenger data record

Law No. 13 of 2016

The law was issued at the Emiri Diwan on 3 Safar 1438 AH, corresponding to 3 November 2016 ¹. The English text on the NCSA compliance site is an unofficial translation, and the official text is in Official Gazette No. 15 of 2016 ¹.

Article 1 defines the Ministry as the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Competent Department as the competent administrative unit at the Ministry ¹. Article 14 requires a controller to tell the individual and the Competent Department of a breach of security precautions that may cause serious damage to personal data or privacy ¹. Article 15 bars controllers from limiting cross-border data flows, with exceptions where processing breaches the law or may seriously harm the data or the individual's privacy ¹. Article 24 sets a penalty of up to QR 5,000,000 for breaches of Articles 13, 16 (paragraph 3) and 17 ¹.

Article 18 lets the Competent Authority process some personal data without applying Articles 4, 9, 15 and 17 to protect national and public security, international relations or economic interests, or to prevent and investigate crime ¹. The authority must keep a special record of data processed on these grounds ¹.

National Cyber Security Agency

On 23 October 2024 the Qatar News Agency reported that the National Data Privacy Office (NDPO) at the NCSA issued Resolution No. (1) of 2024 ². It found that a company in the information and communications technology sector had failed to comply with several articles of Law No. 13 of 2016 on controller duties ². The resolution required the company to review, update and develop its administrative, technical and material safeguards ². The company was not named and no company statement was published ². The NDPO pointed parties to guidance at assurance.ncsa.gov.qa ².

An NCSA legal researcher was among Qatar's participants at the June 2024 ICAO API and PNR seminar ³.

Ministry of Interior e-gates

The Ministry of Interior's General Directorate of Passports includes Border Passports and Airport Passports departments ⁵.

Captain Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari of the Airport Passports Department said e-gates at Hamad International Airport use iris scanning, ten-print fingerprints and facial recognition, as reported by Sanaullah Ataullah for The Peninsula on 13 June 2025 ⁴. Children aged seven or above, between 120 and 130 centimetres tall, can use the gates with a passport or national ID that has a system-registered photo ⁴. A parent or guardian must first get a travel authorization for the child through the Metrash app ⁴.

Hayya e-visas

Hayya describes itself as an all-in-one digital platform for e-visa services, hosting family and friends, and crossing the border at Abu Samra ⁶. It offers Hayya tourist e-visas and says GCC nationals can visit Qatar without a visa ⁶. The Hayya pages checked for this record do not name the data controller or state what applicant data is kept or for how long ⁶.

API and PNR

ICAO's summary of the Middle East Regional Seminar on API and PNR Data, held in Cairo from 24 to 26 June 2024, lists Qatari participants from the Ministry of Interior, customs and the NCSA ³. They included staff of a Ministry of Interior immigration target office and of the Hamad International Airport customs department ³. The summary does not state Qatar's API or PNR status ³.

Chronology