The Commercial Law promulgated by Law No. 27 of 2006 governs commercial activities, traders, commercial contracts, and negotiable instruments such as bills of exchange, promissory notes and cheques, as well as bankruptcy. Commercial agency is governed by Law No. 8 of 2002 on the regulation of commercial agents, as amended by Law No. 2 of 2016. At the recovery stage, the Judicial Enforcement Law No. 4 of 2024 applies.

The Investment and Trade Court

The Investment and Trade Court was established by Law No. 21 of 2021 and consists of first-instance circuits and appeal circuits. Under Article 7 of its founding law, it hears a defined range of disputes, including:

  • Disputes over commercial contracts, including commercial representation and commercial agency contracts.
  • Claims between traders relating to their commercial activities.
  • Disputes between partners or shareholders in commercial companies.
  • Disputes relating to banking transactions, negotiable instruments and insurance companies, and bankruptcy disputes.
  • Intellectual property, competition and e-commerce disputes, disputes over non-Qatari capital investment, and public-private partnership contracts.

The court's law provides for electronic filing of claims and applications and expects supporting documents to be produced from the outset, so preparing the file before filing is a decisive stage in commercial litigation.

Commercial debt collection: the available routes

  1. Formal notice and negotiation: many debtors pay, or agree a documented schedule, once they receive a clear legal notice.
  2. Enforcement of enforceable instruments: the Judicial Enforcement Law gives cheques the force of an enforceable instrument, allowing the beneficiary to seek enforcement without first bringing a full claim, where the conditions are met.
  3. A commercial claim: where the existence or amount of the debt is disputed, or there is no enforceable instrument.
  4. Arbitration: where the parties agreed to it in the contract or after the dispute arose.

For practical steps, see our guide to debt collection in Qatar.

Commercial agency

Only persons registered in the commercial agents register kept by the competent ministry may carry on commercial agency business (Article 11 of the Commercial Agents Law). The Qatari courts have jurisdiction over any dispute between principal and agent arising from performance of the agency contract, unless otherwise agreed (Article 23). The 2016 amendments were aimed at strengthening competition, including by enabling the ministry to liberalise commercial agencies for certain goods and products.

What to prepare before consulting a commercial lawyer in Qatar

  • The contract, purchase orders, invoices and delivery notes.
  • The customer's statement of account and earlier payment demands.
  • Original cheques and the bank's return notices.
  • Both parties' commercial registration details and authorised signatories.
  • The agency contract and certificate of registration in the commercial agents register, if any.
  • Any arbitration, jurisdiction or governing-law clause in the contract.