Selling online in Qatar: a licence for every website

Qatar put selling online on its own licence in March 2026. A ministerial decision now says that no commercial activity may be carried on through a website without an e-commerce licence — and the word "website" is defined to include social media platforms. This guide sets out who needs the licence, what it is granted against, what has to appear on the site, and which of these duties carry a criminal penalty rather than a civil one.

The licence: one for every website

Minister of Commerce and Industry Decision No. 25 of 2026 was issued under Article 10 of Law No. 5 of 2015, which gives the Minister the power to set the conditions for practising a commercial, industrial or similar public activity through websites that need no physical premises. It was published in the Official Gazette on 15 March 2026 and applies from the day after. Article 2 is the rule itself: the activity may not be carried on until an e-commerce licence has been obtained from the competent department and the prescribed fees paid. Which activities may be carried on electronically is a list the department proposes, the authorities responsible for each activity approve, the Minister adopts, and the Ministry publishes on its website. Both the list and the fee are published now: on 17 September 2026 the Ministry put the licence on its own app and named the figures — an issuance fee of QR 500, and 194 approved activities. The application is made through the Single Window.

Article 3 sets four conditions for the licence, and each of them is a thing to have in hand before applying rather than a box on a form.

• The applicant must be registered in the commercial register under the law governing it.
• The application must name the commercial activity to be licensed for practice through websites.
• The applicant must hold the licences and approvals the activity itself requires from the competent bodies.
• The application must name the website through which the activity will be carried on.

What the licence holder must do

• Carry on the activity through the website named in the licence, and no other.
• Obtain the competent department's approval for any change to the licence's particulars.
• Provide electronic payment services to consumers through the website.
• Display a set of information clearly on the site itself.

That last obligation is four groups of facts, and the decision says they must appear clearly on the website. It does not say "on request", and it does not say "in the terms and conditions".

• The commercial register number and the e-commerce licence.
• Contact numbers, the email address and customer service.
• The particulars of the goods and services, and the exchange and return policy.
• Consumer protection measures and the procedures for receiving and handling complaints.

And the 2010 law is a second layer, not a replaced one

The decision governs the licence. What the seller then owes the buyer is in the Law on Electronic Transactions and Commerce, issued by Decree-Law No. 16 of 2010, whose eighth chapter is headed "Consumer protection" and which applies without prejudice to the Consumer Protection Law No. 8 of 2008. Its duties fall on a "service provider", defined as the person who provides an electronic commerce service — which is what an online seller is. Four of them go beyond anything the new decision asks for.

• Article 51: the details of the authority supervising the provider, where the service is subject to its permit or licence, and any codes of conduct the provider is subject to, with how to read them electronically.
• Article 52: for a regulated profession, the body the provider is registered with, the professional title and the state that granted it, and the professional rules that apply, with how to reach them.
• Article 53: a commercial electronic communication must be plainly identifiable as commercial, must name the person on whose behalf it is sent, and — for promotional offers and competitions — must be precise, must say whether it carries discounts, rewards or gifts, and must state the conditions of entry unambiguously and accessibly.
• Article 54: no commercial electronic communication may be sent to a consumer who has not given express consent to receiving it.

Before the order, and after it

Article 55 is the one to read against a checkout page. Where an electronic communication concerns a request to conclude a commercial contract, the provider must give the consumer a clear and comprehensive statement of the terms and conditions before the order is placed, including all of the following.

1. 1The technical steps to be followed to conclude the contract.
2. 2The particulars of the service provider.
3. 3A description of the essential characteristics of the services or goods.
4. 4The price of the services and goods, stating whether it includes taxes and delivery costs.
5. 5The arrangements for payment, delivery and performance.
6. 6How long the offer and the price remain valid.
7. 7Whether the consumer has the right to cancel the order.
8. 8Whether the contract will be stored or retained by the provider, and whether and how the consumer may access, store, copy and keep it.

Articles 57 and 58 are the rights a returns policy has to be written against. The consumer may rescind or terminate the contract within three days of concluding it — as long as the provider has not performed it fully within that period in a manner meeting its purpose, and the consumer has not used the goods or obtained any benefit or material value from them. And where delivery or performance is delayed by more than thirty days, the consumer may terminate and recover what they paid. Both of these open with words that matter: the first applies unless the parties agree otherwise, and the second unless a different delivery period was agreed.

Which breaches are crimes

Article 67 makes a list of acts punishable by imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to QR 300,000, or one of those two penalties. Its twelfth item is the one an honest merchant can fall into without touching a computer system belonging to anybody else: breaching any provision of Articles 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 or 59. The disclosure and consent duties are not guidance.

Client data

Article 59 is short and it is the one most often broken by accident. The provider must specify the purposes for which a client's personal information is collected, at or before the point of collection, and may not collect, use, retain or disclose it for purposes that are not authorised or permitted — unless required or permitted by law, or with the consent of the client the information relates to.

What an office should actually do

1. 1Check the activity you intend to sell is on the Ministry's list of 194 approved activities, before anything else, because the licence is granted against that list.
2. 2Confirm the activity is on your commercial register, and add it first if it is not.
3. 3Count your storefronts — a site, a shop on a platform and a social media account are separate applications, each naming its own address.
4. 4Put the commercial register number and the e-commerce licence on the site where a visitor can see them, not in a page reached from the footer.
5. 5Write the terms so that the eight items in Article 55 are all in front of the buyer before the order button, not on the confirmation page after it.
6. 6Check that your marketing list was collected with express consent and that every message carries a way out, because that is the duty in this subject with a criminal penalty attached to it.