Al Ansari & Associates was one of the first law firms in Qatar that focused on the importance of the National Address Law No. (24) of 2017 (“National Address Law”)

The Ministry of Interior announced a couple of days ago that the National Address Law will come into force in the coming few months and every Qatari national and resident must register his/her national address with the Ministry of Interior within 6 months from the date the Ministry of Interior will announce the launching of registration process.

Objectives of the National Address Law?
1. Replacing the current governmental paper-based correspondences with nationals and/or residents by electronic correspondences for efficiency purposes.
2. Each person who lives in the State of Qatar including natural and juristic persons shall have a national address registered with the Ministry of Interior.

What shall you do to comply with the Law?
As soon as the Ministry of Interior announces the launching of registration process, each person including companies shall register its national address through any of the following venues:
1. Oniza Services Centre,
2. METRASH 2, or
3. Any services center of the Ministry of Interior across the country.

You shall register the following information with the Ministry to comply with the National Address Law’s requirements:
– Residency address,
– Landline and cell phone numbers,
– E-mail address,
– Work address,
– Permanent address abroad, if applicable, and
– Any other information as may be requested by the Ministry of Interior.

In addition, you are also required to notify the Ministry of Interior of any updates or amendments to any of the above-mentioned information.

Punishments

National Address Law provides for a punishment on the non- compliant person, such punishment is, without prejudice to a higher punishment, a fine that does not exceed QAR 10,000. However, Minister of Interior, or whom he delegates, may settle with the non- compliant person if the latter paid QAR 5000 and rectified his position through amending the wrong information or notify the Ministry of Interior of the required information.

Please refer to our initial article on the National Address Law.

About Al-Ansari & Associates

Al-Ansari & Associates is a leading law firm based in Doha, the State of Qatar. Being the fastest growing firm in the State of Qatar, we are proud to have supported both local and international clients with multi jurisdictional qualified lawyers. The firm’s practice is focused on core areas such as corporate and commercial, Banking and Finance, regulatory and compliance, Labour and Employment, TMT, Intellectual Property and Copyright, Real Estate and Contraction, Energy and Natural Resources, Transport and Infrastructure and Dispute Resolution. Al-Ansari & Associates provides its clients legal expertise with international standards.