When Does Qatari Law Require a Radiation Licence? The Five Categories
September 18, 2026
8 min read
DITEC Experts, Radiation Protection Team, ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting
The rule in one paragraph
If your facility imports, holds, transports or trades a radioactive material, operates a radiation-emitting device, or selects a site or puts up a building for that purpose, you are inside the scope of mandatory licensing. The law does not tie the obligation to the size of the source or the number of devices. It ties it to the type of activity, and five categories named in the text are what govern the question.
Article 6 of Decree-Law 31 of 2002 provides that none of the works and practices it lists may be carried out without a licence from the Council. Article 7 of the Executive Regulation repeats the same obligation under the heading The basic obligation.
The five categories, as the text sets them out
Article 6 closes with a further paragraph: activities relating to medical radiation applications also require a licence, under Article 3 of the Law, on a route coordinated with the Ministry of Public Health.
The five licensed categories (Executive Regulation, Article 7)
| # | The category | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Importing, exporting, holding, trading in or transporting radioactive materials | Import from the supplier, storage in the warehouse and movement between sites are all inside the scope, even if the material is never used |
| 2 | Applying, introducing, conducting, suspending, modifying or terminating any work or practice involving radioactive materials, radioactive sources or radiation devices | Ending a practice needs a licence just as starting one does — the point most often missed when a line is shut down or a device disposed of |
| 3 | Designing, manufacturing, producing, holding, owning, importing, exporting, buying, selling, delivering, receiving, lending, borrowing, operating, discharging or disposing of any radioactive material, source or radiation-emitting device | Lending and borrowing are named explicitly: lending a device to another contractor is not outside the licence |
| 4 | Selecting any site for a practice involving a radioactive material, source or radiation-emitting device, constructing any building for that practice, or making any modification to those places or buildings | Before building, not after — selecting the site is itself a licensed step, and so is any later modification to the building |
| 5 | Working with ionising or non-ionising radiation, or in the field of expertise and responsibility for radiation protection | Covers the workers themselves, and covers anyone providing radiation protection expertise and advice |
Three points facility owners overlook
The three that cost the most
Lending is not an exception
- The third category names lending and borrowing expressly. A contractor who lends a nuclear gauge to another contractor for a week remains inside the scope of the licence.
Ending an activity is licensed like starting it
- The second category names stopping, modifying and terminating. A facility that stops using a source does not leave the obligation simply by stopping.
The site comes before the building
- The fourth category begins with selecting the site, not constructing it. The correct order is: site licence first, then build — not the reverse.
Exemptions exist, but they are narrow
Article 3 of the Regulation allows the Council to grant an exemption from the Regulation's requirements on three conditions that must be met together: that the radiation risks to individuals are so small as to be of no regulatory significance; that the collective effect is small enough that it does not call for regulatory control; and that the exempted practice and sources are inherently safe. The exemption is granted on application and after the approval of the Radiation Protection Committee. It is never assumed.
Article 2 separately excludes from the Regulation's scope: exposure from potassium-40 in the body, cosmic radiation at ground level, radiation from radioactive materials present in raw materials at their natural concentration, and any other sources the Council specifies.
Frequently asked questions
I have only one device — do I need a licence?
The text does not tie the obligation to the number. The third category covers holding, owning or operating any radiation-emitting device. The number affects the type of licence and its conditions, not whether the obligation exists.
I rent the device and do not own it — does this apply to me?
The third category names receiving, lending, borrowing and operating. Operation by itself is inside the scope regardless of ownership.
Is non-ionising radiation included?
Yes. The fifth category covers work with ionising or non-ionising radiation. The Regulation defines non-ionising radiation as all types of radiation that do not ionise matter directly or indirectly on striking it, such as laser radiation.
My facility existed before the law was issued — what applies to me?
Article 15 of the Law required existing facilities and existing radiation workers to bring their position into conformity within six months of the Executive Regulation coming into force. That period has long expired, and the current position is full compliance.
How the Institute can help
Deciding whether your activity falls inside the licensing scope is the first step only. The next is knowing which type of licence applies to you — and that runs in stages, not one step. The next article in this series sets them out.
Related services: radiation protection consulting — shielding calculations, the radiation protection programme, the emergency plan, and review of building drawings for rooms holding sources — and Radiation Protection Officer training programmes.
Scope of what the Institute does: training and consulting. Field radiation surveys are carried out through specialist partners working in the field. The Institute does not carry out laboratory analysis, instrument calibration or equipment testing.
This explanation is published for awareness by the radiation protection team at ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting. The English text is an explanation, not a certified translation: the Arabic text published in the Official Gazette governs in case of any difference, and this article does not replace the official text or advice from the competent authority. Last updated 18 September 2026.