Business
Commercial Companies Law with full foreign ownership by approval
Law 1 of 2019 allows up to one hundred per cent foreign ownership in most sectors with ministerial approval, replacing the former forty-nine per cent cap.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Onshore commercial courts and the QICDRC for QFC entities. Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration administers arbitration.
- Deadline — 30 days to challenge a shareholder resolution
- Deadline — 30 days to apply to annul an arbitral award
Governing law
- Commercial Companies Law, Law 11 of 2015
- Foreign Investment Law, Law 1 of 2019
- Arbitration Law, Law 2 of 2017 — UNCITRAL Model Law based
- QFC Companies Regulations
In practice
The 2019 Foreign Investment Law reversed the default: foreign ownership above forty-nine per cent became available across most of the economy subject to approval, rather than prohibited subject to exception, though banking and insurance remain restricted. The QFC is a separate legal and tax jurisdiction with its own companies regulations, its own court and a ten per cent corporate tax, and it permits full foreign ownership without approval, which makes it the cleaner route for many structures. The 2017 Arbitration Law is Model Law based and Qatar is a New York Convention party.