Does Qatar's PDPPL require cookie consent?

Yes, for cookies a website does not need in order to work. Qatar's Personal Data Privacy Protection Law (Law No. 13 of 2016) requires consent before personal data is processed, and websites must obtain it before setting non-essential cookies or running advertising and analytics tools. A banner that appears while those tools are already loading does not meet the law.

Consent must be capable of being withdrawn, so the banner settings stay reachable after the first answer. The law applies to personal data processed or collected electronically, which covers what a website collects about its visitors.

Companies registered in the Qatar Financial Centre are the exception: they follow the QFC Data Protection Regulations 2021 instead of the PDPPL.