Updates to Personal Data Law
His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq issued Royal Decree No. (68/2026) amending the Personal Data Protection Law in the Sultanate of Oman to strengthen it and keep pace with technological advancements, particularly artificial intelligence. The amendments include expanding the law’s scope to cover the processing of personal data of natural persons inside and outside the Sultanate, updating the definitions of "controller" and "health data," and introducing the concept of "automated processing" carried out through electronic automated systems. Additionally, the categories exempt from the law’s provisions have been narrowed to six cases, with some previous exemptions abolished, and flexibility granted to the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology to specify additional cases. The law emphasizes the necessity of prior and explicit consent from data owners when processing their data, with limited exceptions. It also imposes new obligations on controllers and processors, such as deleting data once the purpose has been fulfilled. Violators face fines ranging from 500 to 10,000 Omani rials, ensuring data protection in line with technological progress.
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