When Is a Radiation Protection Officer Required in Qatar?
September 14, 2026
6 min read
DITEC Experts, Radiation Protection Team, ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting
The legal requirement
Any organisation that holds a licence to work with radiation sources in Qatar must appoint a radiation protection officer. This is not a recommendation or good practice — it is Article 8(5) of Decree-Law No. 31 of 2002 on Radiation Protection, which obliges every licence holder to appoint a focal point responsible for ensuring that radiation protection rules and procedures are upheld
The question most companies ask is not whether the obligation exists, but whether it applies to them. The answer follows from the licence, not from the size of the operation.
Who the obligation applies to
Article 6 of the Decree-Law requires a licence for a defined set of activities. If your organisation carries out any of them, it holds — or should hold — a licence, and the obligation to appoint a radiation protection officer follows automatically:
• Importing, exporting, possessing or transporting radioactive materials.
• Working with ionising or non-ionising radiation, or occupying a position of expertise or responsibility in radiation protection.
- • Working with ionising or non-ionising radiation, or occupying a position of expertise or responsibility in radiation protection.
Individual and institutional licences
Article 7 distinguishes two licence types: individual licences, issued to persons who work with radiation in their various capacities, and institutional licences covering a site, a facility or an activity. A company therefore needs both: the institutional licence for the operation, and individual licences for the people who work with the sources.
In practice this covers industrial radiography contractors, construction and materials-testing laboratories using nuclear density gauges, well-logging operations, facilities handling naturally occurring radioactive material, and every hospital, clinic and dental practice operating X-ray, fluoroscopy, CT, nuclear medicine or radiotherapy equipment.
What the radiation protection officer is responsible for
The law defines the role by its purpose: ensuring that radiation protection rules and procedures are applied. In an operating facility that translates into a defined set of duties:
• Maintaining the radiation protection programme and the written procedures that implement it.
• Supervising personal dosimetry, and reviewing and recording occupational doses.
- • Controlling access to controlled and supervised areas.
- • Keeping the source inventory current, including receipt, movement, storage and disposal.
- • Investigating incidents and abnormal exposures, and reporting them to the regulator.
- • Delivering or arranging the training that workers need for their assigned tasks.
What happens if no officer is appointed
Article 10 sets the penalty for breaching Article 8 at imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to QAR 100,000, or both. The same article sets a heavier penalty for operating without the licence required by Article 6: imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to QAR 200,000, or both.
The commercial consequence usually arrives before the legal one. A licence application or renewal that does not name a qualified radiation protection officer is not approved, and the facility cannot lawfully operate in the meantime.
How a radiation protection officer is qualified
The officer must be competent for the type of practice — industrial radiography, nuclear gauges, NORM and medical imaging each carry different hazards and different controls — and must hold the individual licence that Article 6 requires for anyone occupying a position of responsibility in radiation protection. Recognised training is the route to both: it establishes the competence, and it supports the individual licence application to the Radiation Protection Department.
Frequently asked questions
Does a small clinic with one dental X-ray unit need a radiation protection officer?
Yes. The obligation in Article 8(5) attaches to the licence, not to the number of units. A practice licensed to operate dental radiography equipment must appoint an officer.
Can one person act as radiation protection officer for several sites?
It depends on the scale and the hazard. The regulator assesses whether the person can discharge the duties effectively for each site; a single officer covering scattered sites with active sources is unlikely to satisfy that test.
Can the officer be an external consultant?
The appointment must give the officer real authority within the organisation. External support is common for programme design, shielding assessments and audits, but the appointed officer needs standing to stop unsafe work.
How long does the individual licence take?
It depends on the completeness of the submission. Applications supported by a recognised training certificate and a documented radiation protection programme move faster than those that are not.
References
Written by the radiation protection experts of ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting (DITEC), Doha, Qatar — a licensed training centre whose experts hold personal licences issued by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Last reviewed 14 September 2026.
• Decree-Law No. 31 of 2002 on Radiation Protection (State of Qatar) — Articles 2, 6, 7, 8 and 10.
• Resolution No. 4 of 2003 promulgating the Executive Bylaw of Law No. 31 of 2002.
- • IAEA General Safety Requirements Part 3, Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards.