The National Address Law will come into force soon in Qatar, the country's Ministry of Interior has announced recently.

The law comes under Qatar's efforts to strategically develop its e-government, complete the legislative structure for the government's electronic transactions and transition from a descriptive address to the digital address system.

Under the National Address Law (Law No. 24 of 2017), it will be obligatory for every resident, whether a citizen or an expatriate of Qatar, to register his data in a simple form that includes the residential address, land phone number, mobile number, email, employer's address for government and private sector employees, and permanent address abroad, if any, Lt Col Dr Abdullah Zayed Al Sahli, head of the National Address Section at Public Security stated.  

According to Lt Col Al Sahli, the MoI has been working to complete the necessary steps for the implementation of the law. 

"The process of registering the data of the national address for citizens and residents could be done through Metrash2 app or MoI service centers," he said.

"An office will be allocated to facilitate the process of registering the national address of the citizens. The National Address Section will be based in Onaizah Service Center,” he mentioned.

While registration procedures are fairly simple, "a legal representative can also furnish the details on behalf of the resident."

For minor children, the guardians have to register the data and they will be responsible for the legal transactions and the validity of the given data, Lt Col Al Sahli underlined.

#MoIQatar will begin implementing the #NationalAddress Law (Law No. 24 of 2017) soon as part of the strategic development of e-government, legislative structure for government e-transactions and the transition from descriptive address to the digital address system. pic.twitter.com/KkHLlqWBgr

— Ministry of Interior (@MOI_QatarEn) November 18, 2019

If any person fails to register the data within six months from the date of the commencement of the official registration process, he will be punishable under Article 6 of the National Address Act.

Anyone who violates any of the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 will be fined an amount not exceeding QR10,000.

Providing incorrect data knowingly will also draw a fine.

In the event of a change in the national address data, such information should be updated as per Article 4 of the Act.

If the person does not notify the relevant authority of the change or update it during the scheduled period, the given data will be considered as valid and productive for all legal proceedings as per Article 5 of the Act.

The MoI official said the aim of maintaining a register of national address is to ensure access to residents in all matters of personal and official interest.

This measure is also a qualitative leap in the conduct of judicial procedures.

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Cover Image Credit: The Peninsula