Qatar requires two thirds of shelf life left on imported medicines

What changed

Qatar's Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), through its Department of Pharmacy and Drug Control, issued a circular requiring imported medicines to have at least two thirds of their shelf life remaining when they enter Qatar. The Peninsula reported the circular on 12 April 2026 and said it took immediate effect and overrides any earlier conflicting instructions. The report does not give the circular's number or its exact date of issue.

Licensed pharmaceutical agents and importers must not import medicines that fall short of the requirement unless they hold an official exemption approval from the Department. Exemptions are handled under the Department's Exemptions Guide, which the report says is available on the Ministry's website and its electronic system. Misusing an exemption or failing to comply can lead to suspension or withdrawal of exemption approvals, corrective regulatory action and more inspections.

The Ministry's exemption guideline could not be opened from the research machine, because the Ministry's site showed a human verification page. Its exemption criteria and timing are therefore not described here. This update relies on the newspaper report, a secondary source.

Who it affects

• Licensed agents and importers in Qatar, including those supplying hospitals.
• Overseas manufacturers and exporters, including Indian suppliers, that ship medicines to Qatar.
• Supply of orphan, specialty and named-patient medicines, which are often made in small batches and may already be part-way through their shelf life when ordered.

What it means for buyers

Two thirds of the shelf life must remain on arrival in Qatar, not on dispatch. For a medicine with a 24 month shelf life, at least 16 months must be left when it lands. For a 36 month product, the figure is 24 months, and for a 12 month product, 8 months. Any time spent on regulatory approvals, export clearance in India and transit reduces what is left.

Short-dated batches can still be supplied only with an exemption. Applying late risks goods being held at the border, which is costly for cold-chain products that need controlled storage until release.

What to do now

1. State the minimum remaining shelf life on arrival in the enquiry and the purchase order.
2. Ask the supplier for the batch expiry date at quotation, and check it against the planned arrival date.
3. Where only a short-dated batch is available, ask the Qatari importer to seek an exemption from the Department before dispatch.
4. Keep transit times short with direct flights and qualified cold-chain packaging during the hot months.

For more detail, see the Qatar import guide and shelf-life requirements in medicine supply.