SMS compliance in Qatar

The rules that apply to business SMS sent to numbers in Qatar, with the source for each.

Quiet hours

Direct marketing SMS barred 21:00-09:00.

Source: CRA Spam Regulation (amended 2017)

Consent

Prior consent required for direct marketing (Law 13/2016 art.22).

Source: Law 13 of 2016 on personal data privacy

Opt-out

Promotional SMS must offer a free, simple opt-out (e.g., reply STOP); honour requests promptly and suppress opted-out numbers.

Source: Operator/aggregator policy (best practice)

Prohibited content

Blocked: gambling/betting, alcohol, adult/dating, political and religious content, content offensive to public morals or Islam, phishing/fraud, unlicensed financial/crypto offers, URL shorteners.

Source: Operator content policies / national advertising law

Data protection law

Law 13 of 2016 on personal data privacy. Supervisory authority: NCGAA / National Data Privacy Office.

Source: Law 13 of 2016 on personal data privacy

Sender ID rule

Pre-registration on Ooredoo and Vodafone; local SIDs require Qatar HQ.

Source: Operator/regulator registration rules

Other

Classify traffic as promotional or transactional; OTP/transactional must not contain marketing content; use local language or Unicode where required.

Source: Industry practice

This summary is guidance, not legal advice. Last verified 23 October 2026.