QatarQICDRC Practice Direction No. 1 of 2026 (in force 6 Jan 2026) allows the court to require disclosure of how AI was used in preparing documents in QFC court proceedings. No onshore rule.
Regulation Tracker · Country · Middle East
Qatar
Early: one or two positionsmixedupdated 2026-09-04verified 2026-09-04
Qatar's only AI rule for legal practice sits in the Qatar Financial Centre. QICDRC Practice Direction No. 1 of 2026 (6 January 2026) and its accompanying practice guidance require verification of AI-assisted material and permit the court to require disclosure, following the QFC court's contempt finding in Sheppard v Jillion (12 Nov 2025). Onshore courts have no rule.
As of 2026-09-04, Qatar has 2 binding rules, official guidance in 0 categories, 0 proposals and 1 position set only by case law across the 20 categories in the map. Binding rules cover disclosure of AI use in filings, duty to verify AI output. In 17 categories we found nothing; in 0 the position is not yet determined.
How to read this page
- Binding rule Binding rule means a rule in force from a court, statute, regulator or equivalent authority.
- Official guidance Official guidance means an official non-binding position from a judiciary, regulator, bar or public body.
- Proposed / consultation Proposed / consultation means a public bill, draft rule or consultation that is not yet in force.
- Set by case law Set by case law means no rule was found, but courts have set the position in decisions.
- Nothing found Nothing found means the category was checked and no rule, guidance, proposal or case-law position was found.
- Not yet determined Not yet determined means research did not establish a reliable position yet.
The rules, category by category
The same practice direction requires comprehensive verification and certification of the accuracy of all sources before submission when AI tools are used; parties and representatives remain responsible for fabricated or inaccurate material.
In Sheppard v Jillion LLC [2025] QIC (E) 3 (12 Nov 2025) the QFC Civil and Commercial Court, per Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, found a Dubai-based lawyer in contempt under Article 35 for citing two non-existent QFC authorities and persisting after challenge, imposing no penal sanction but publishing the judgment.
No published guidance on judges' or court staff's use of AI. In June 2026 UNESCO and the Supreme Judiciary Council ran a four-day AI and rule-of-law training for 34 judges and senior legal officials, but no rule followed.
No rule barring AI from adjudicative reasoning found as of 4 September 2026.
No separate guidance for self-represented litigants; the QICDRC practice direction binds parties generally, whether represented or not.
No evidence rule or guidance on AI-generated or deepfake material found as of 4 September 2026.
No regulator or bar guidance restricting client data in AI tools found as of 4 September 2026.
No competence rule naming AI or technology found as of 4 September 2026.
No supervision duty naming AI found as of 4 September 2026.
No requirement to inform clients of or obtain consent for AI use found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case on billing for AI-assisted work found as of 4 September 2026.
No AI-specific ruling or regulation on consumer AI legal services found as of 4 September 2026.
Qatar has no independent bar association; lawyers are licensed by the Ministry of Justice, which has published no generative-AI guidance for practitioners as of 4 September 2026.
No published policy on the courts' own AI deployment. The Ministry of Justice has publicised AI ambitions for the justice system since September 2023 and publishes AI research in its Journal of Judicial and Legal Studies.
The Personal Data Privacy Protection Law (Law No. 13 of 2016) applies, but no AI-specific data-protection guidance relevant to legal services was found as of 4 September 2026.
No horizontal AI statute and no draft AI law. The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, implemented through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, takes a non-binding, risk-based and sector-specific approach.
No AI rules or guidance from the Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) found as of 4 September 2026.
No mandatory AI training requirement. The June 2026 UNESCO/Supreme Judiciary Council judicial training was a voluntary programme.
No rule or guidance on procuring and contracting legal AI tools found as of 4 September 2026.
Sub-national rules
Where states, provinces or courts set their own rules. Cells show the status in each category the record covers.
Official documents recorded for Qatar (1)
- Practice Direction No. 1 of 2026 and Practice Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence
QICDRC · revised 2026-01-06 · verified 2026-09-04
Court incidents on the record in Qatar
- Sheppard v Jillion LLC [2025] QIC (E) 3 (CTFIC0033/2025)2025-11-12 Other
Cite this page
SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "Qatar" (updated 2026-09-04, verified 2026-09-04), https://safelegalai.com/regulation/country/qa (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.
SafeLegalAI is a research publication by Cognesio LLP, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice, and no lawyer–client relationship arises from reading it. Rules change; always check the official document linked on each record and take advice on your own situation. Researched and drafted with AI assistance; verified against primary sources and edited by Cognesio LLP. The linked official documents are the record — our summaries are not the law and are not legal advice.
- QICDRC — Practice Direction No. 1 of 2026 and Practice Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence
- Sheppard v Jillion LLC [2025] QIC (E) 3 (QFC Civil and Commercial Court, 12 Nov 2025)
- UNESCO — Judicial professionals from the Arab region trained on AI and the rule of law (June 2026)
- UNESCO — Three lessons for courts navigating AI: insights from Qatar