Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has issued news licenses for local companies to provide e-signature services. The licenses that will be awarded for up to three companies will allow them to provide e-signature certificates, e-seal, and time stamp services for both individuals and businesses.
ITIDA stated that application forms for the e-signature licence are available at its premise in the Smart Village starting 24 February till 9 March, costing EGP 40,000.
Companies wishing to obtain the e-signature licence will initially check the general and financial regulations and conditions for registration. The awarded entities will abide by all substantive and technical conditions in the law No. 15 for 2004 and its executive regulations.
The new e-signature licenses come as part of the initiatives and policies initiated by ITIDA to support Egypt’s digital transformation.
ITIDA’s CEO Amr Mahfouz commented, “The step comes as a response to the fast development witnessed in the local IT sector and to further enhance Egypt’s digital readiness. The new licenses will enable spreading high-security e-signature services’ usage to meet the increasing and unprecedented demand across all sectors.”
“Egypt has made great strides on its DX journey thanks to MCIT’s comprehensive Digital Egypt strategy that accelerates the adoption of emerging technologies in almost all aspects of life,” Mahfouz said, “Likewise, we have an ambitious plan to digitize all public services that require a vast expansion of e-signature services nationwide.”
ITIDA stated that applicants must be local companies working inside Egypt, and meet all conditions and guarantees mentioned in the law, in addition to providing all necessary and required documents.
Next March, ITIDA will host a series of Q&A sessions to answer all applicants’ queries. After the deadline for bids submission, ITIDA will commence reviewing and evaluating all bids by a committee of specialists and experts, and results will be officially announced afterwards.
ITIDA is committed to awarding the licenses in a period not exceeding 60 days from the date of submitting the license application, and after the submission of all required documents, unless ITIDA further extended this period.
The duration of the licensing is three years, to start from the date of the operation permit and the issuance of the license from the Egyptian Root Certificate Authority (Root CA), subject to renewal for similar periods, per the decision of ITIDA.
The e-Signature Law, issued in 2004 and upon which ITIDA was established, supports Egypt’s e-commerce industry by securing the Internet as a legally viable medium for digital transactions and aims to support digital transformation in all state sectors.
In 2020, Egypt ranked among the top 10 improvers in Roland Berger’s Digital Inclusion Index. The index measures and analyses levels of digital inclusiveness in 82 countries across the globe based on their scores across four digital inclusion levers: accessibility, affordability, ability, and attitude.
