EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Ahmed Kotb, Mohamed Ehab, Mohamed Sameh and Yasmine ElSakka, Khodeir & Partners
Khodeir & Partners 35 B, Nile Corniche, 11745 Maadi,
Cairo Egypt Tel: +20 2 2527 2628/+20 2 2527 2629
Email: info@mkhodeir.com Web: www.mkhodeir.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
State Council, Challenge No. 8256 of JY 56, dated 5 March 2016). Additionally, Prime Ministerial Decree No. 1062 of 2019, as amended, established the High Committee for Arbitration and International Disputes under the Council of Ministers. This Committee is mandated to review mainly agreements with foreign investors that include arbitration clauses prior to their conclusion. The Committee is also tasked with opin - ing on ongoing commercial and investment arbitration proceedings involving the state and its affiliates. In the context of investment arbitration, Egypt remains a prominent jurisdiction. Most of Egypt’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs) provide for arbitration as the dispute settlement mechanism. Following the 2011 revolution, Egypt has seen a notable increase in investor-state claims, including 28 ICSID cases as of July 2025. Egypt enacted a new Investment Law (No. 72 of 2017), which introduced mechanisms for dispute avoidance and amicable settlement in an effort to reduce the state’s exposure to costly arbitration. Egypt is also regularly selected as a seat of arbitration, supported by a robust legislative framework largely aligned with the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Com - mercial Arbitration (“Model Law”) and the presence of reputable arbitral institutions such as the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbi - tration (CRCICA). 1.2 Key Industries Several industry sectors in Egypt have seen a notable increase in international arbitration activity in recent years. According to the CRCICA 2024 Caseload Report, the most active sectors included retail, real
Arbitration is a widely recognised and frequently used mechanism for resolving commercial disputes between private parties in Egypt. Contracting parties, whether domestic or international, commonly include arbitration clauses in their agreements – particularly in high-value commercial transactions – to ensure a more efficient, neutral, expedited and enforceable dis - pute resolution process. The Cairo Court of Appeal has expressly recognised arbitration as an “international legal system” with established principles and standards that are well known to the international market. The Court empha - sised that national courts are bound to respect these unified principles as they form part of international procedural public policy (Commercial Circuit, Chal - lenge No. 2 of JY 139, dated 9 March 2022). Egypt’s judiciary has, over the years, consistently adopted a pro-arbitration policy, particularly in the context of recognising and enforcing arbitral awards. The Court of Cassation expressly used the term “pro- arbitration policy” in Challenge No. 8199 of JY 80, dated 22 March 2022, confirming that the grounds for setting aside arbitral awards under Law No. 27 of 1994 on Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters (EAL) are to be interpreted narrowly, in alignment with party autonomy and international arbitration norms. However, arbitration agreements included in admin - istrative contracts must be approved by the compe - tent minister or equivalent authority. Delegation of this authority is expressly prohibited (Article 1 of the EAL;
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