Qatar amends laws regulating the practice of engineering professions

April 2014

On 20 January 2014, Qatar Law No.2 of 2014 was passed in order to amend certain provisions of the Engineering Law and the same came into force on 16 March 2014.

Overview of Engineering Law rules

Pursuant to Article 7 of the Engineering Law, no engineer may practice without enrolment in the “Register of Engineers” and no engineering consultancy may be undertaken without enrolment in the “Register of Local Engineering Consultancy Offices” or “Register of International Engineering Consultancy Offices”.

Enrolment in these three registers is considered as a licence to practice in the field of engineering.

Amendments Introduced by Law No. 2 of 2014

1. Members of Enrolment Committee

Law No. 2 of 2014 provides that the Committee approving the enrolment of engineers and engineering consultancy offices (the “ Committee”) shall now be constituted by representatives of each of the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning; Ministry of Interior (General Directorate of Civil Defence); Ministry of Energy and Industry; Ministry of Communication and Information Technology; Qatar Petroleum; Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation; Public Works Authority; Qatar University and the Engineering Consultancy Office.

2. Renewal and Expiry of Registrations

Law No.2 of 2014 provides that the period of enrolment in the Register of Engineers shall be three years, and the period of enrolment in the Registers of Local Engineering Consultancy Offices and International Engineering Consultancy Offices shall be two years.

Any enrolment must be renewed within thirty days after expiry of existing enrolment.

Where no renewal has occurred within the specified period above, this will result in a fine of QAR 1,000 being imposed on the engineer and a fine of QAR 10,000 being imposed on the Engineering Consultancy Offices for each month of delay up to a period of three months. After expiry of that three month period the Committee is then empowered to delete the name from the Register. Such a decision will be notified to the violator after which re-enrolment may not take place until the fees for a new enrolment and the existing fines are paid in full.

3. Restrictions imposed over civil servants

The proprietors of Engineering Consultancy Offices and the engineers working in them are prohibited from working in any ministry, public authority and or other governmental institution.

Law No. 2 of 2014 has exempted Qatari nationals teaching engineering profession in any university from this restriction provided they are PHD holders

4. Disciplinary Penalties

4.1 Disciplinary penalties which may be imposed on a violating
engineer are:

• A formal warning.
• Suspension of practising for a period not exceeding one year and a fine of not exceeding QAR 10,000 or one of these two penalties.
• Deleting the name from the Register of Engineers.

4.2 The disciplinary penalties which may be imposed on the violating Local or International Engineering ConsultancyOffices are:

• A formal warning.
• Suspension of practicing for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding QAR 100,000.00 or one of these two penalties.
• Deleting the office from the Register of Local or International Engineering Consultancy Offices

5. Exemptions from the provisions of the Engineering Law

The provisions of the Engineering Law shall no longer apply to the following categories:

• Engineers and Engineering Consultancy Offices to whom the State temporarily entrusts engineering works of special technical nature required by public interest under a special agreement specifying the nature of the work and the time required to perform the same.  However, a formal exemption needs to be obtained  from the Minister of Municipality and Urban Planning, provided that the period for exemption does not exceed the period for performing the agreed works; and
• Engineers working in ministries, authorities and public institutions in pursuance of their role as governmental employees.

No Significant changes

Although engineering practitioners were expecting substantive changes to the Engineering Law in relation to the registration process, the new Law No. 2 of 2014 does not bring any significant changes in this regard.