The investment committee of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) decreased the number of articles of the Investment Law to 56—down from 115—to facilitate the investment process for investors.
Chairperson of the committee Mahmoud Suleiman said that decreasing the number of articles aims to exempt the investor from having to delve into the details of the process or the steps of the executive bodies.
Suleiman added that there is hope that by decreasing the amount of the Investment Law’s articles, it would be easier to make amendments, such as deleting, adding, or changing the executive regulation of the law in case of need, without having to resort to changing or amending the law.
Suleiman noted that the FEI is keen on making the law easier due to the rapid developments in the fields of investment and business, both locally and globally.
On Tuesday, the FEI’s investment committee concluded its meetings to review and discuss the new Investment Law, and a number of the committee’s members will attend the meeting at parliament next week when the law is discussed.
The Investment Law was announced three years ago during the Egypt Economic Development Conference, which was held in March 2014 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
In January, the State Council received the law for review, but it was returned to the government to be amended.
Furthermore, there was great debate this month in the parliament’s Economic Committee regarding Article 6 of the law.
The article states that the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) has to comply with the application for incorporation within a maximum of one working day. The company applying must acquire the legal entity upon the issuance of a certificate of its establishment, which shall be determined by a decision from the CEO.
However, the parliament’s Economic Committee has maintained the requirement to submit a commercial register for the acquisition of corporate legal persons in dealing with banks and various entities, and not a certificate of its establishment, in accordance with the draft law.
