Doha, 07 June 2022

The State of Qatar participates in a joint GCC workshop on privacy and personal data protection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 6-7 June.

Engineer Dana Al-Abdulla, Director of National Governance and Compliance Affairs represented the State of Qatar along with Jassim Al-Muftah, an expert from the National Cyber Security Agency.

Eng. Dana Al-Abdullah, presented Qatar’s experience in the Qatari law for personal data protection. She explained that the issuance of the Emiri decree No. 13 of 2016 on protecting personal data, reflects the commitment of the State of Qatar to protecting the privacy of its individuals.

Throughout her presentation, Al Abdulla highlighted the leading role that the State of Qatar plays in the field of personal data protection, as the National Cyber Security Agency implements laws and regulations related to personal data protection as well as establishing partnerships with regional and international entities specialized in this field.

Besides that, The National Office for Personal Data Protection participated in a workshop held by a committee for "Legislations and Regulations for Online Applications" which is one of the committees of the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on June 6-7 in Riyadh.

The State of Qatar, represented by the National Cybersecurity Agency, submitted a proposal for member states on Personal Data Privacy System, which aims to unify visions among Member States regarding the management of the personal data privacy system taking into consideration the differences that may exist in legislation and regulations between countries.

The proposal comes in continuance of the objectives of the Gulf Cooperation Council in achieving integration among member states in all fields for enhancing scientific and technical excellence.

It also aims to provide guidelines compatible with the global trends in enforcing the privacy of personal data that qualifies member states and places them in the group of leading countries in this field and broadens the horizons of economic prosperity based on the safe use of knowledge.

As part of the National Cybersecurity Agency's commitment to oversee the implementation of the Personal Data Privacy Protection Law, the National Office for the Protection of Personal Data was established as an annex to the National Governance and Compliance Affairs, which in turn issued a set of guidelines to support the law and support stakeholders in understanding their obligations and rights.

It is also responsible for developing policies on the protection of personal data and following up their implementation, conducting training programs to enhance the capabilities in this field, investigating violations and receiving complaints and alerts related to security incidents caused by data leakage.