EGYPT Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mohamed Hashish, Heba El Abd and Mariam Rabie, Soliman, Hashish & Partners
age is calculated by subtracting the value of the imported components from the product cost. • The financing of the investment project shall be primarily dependent on the foreign currency trans - ferred from abroad through any bank registered with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). • The investment project shall be established in one of the undeveloped areas of Egypt, including, inter alia: the Southern Giza governorate; the gover - norates of the Suez Canal Region, ie, Port Said, Ismailia and Suez (east of the canal); the border governorates, including the Red Sea governorate to the south of Safaga; and the Upper Egypt gover - norates. • The investment project shall contribute directly to fields of technology transfer and localisation in Egypt, innovation support and scientific research development. • The main objective of the investment project shall be securing strategic goods for the country, thereby reducing reliance on imports. • The investment project shall lessen environmental impact via reducing gas and temperature emis - sions and via climate improvement. • The investment project shall offer a labour-inten - sive investment project by employing not fewer than 500 Egyptian nationals. It is worth noting that as of 2025, a total of around 38 Golden Licences had been issued by GAFI. Furthermore, recent amendments have been made to the Investment Law’s Executive Regulations by vir - tue of Decree No 2140 of 2023 to promote FDI. This includes the Private Free Zones regime, including the incorporation of a provision permitting the Cabinet to approve the establishment of any project in the Pri - vate Free Zone, upon a proposal from the competent minister after GAFI conducts an assessment of the project, subject to various conditions. Furthermore, the Decree lifted some of the require - ments for establishing projects in the Private Free Zones, including: • the requirement to check initially whether there is a location in the Public Free Zone that would accom - modate the project;
• the minimum capital requirement of USD10 mil - lion, and the investment costs thereof not being less than USD20 million or its equivalent in the free currency; • the minimum area requirement for the project being 20,000 square metres; and • a minimum requirement of 500 employees. In addition, the Decree has introduced provisions regarding the inclusion of the services industry under the Private Free Zone system. Labour Law It is worth noting that on 3 May 2025, Labour Law No 14 of 2025 (the “New Labour Law”) was officially published, replacing the previous Labour Law No 12 of 2003 (the “Previous Labour Law”). In accordance with its provisions, the New Labour Law entered into force on the first day of the month following the lapse of 90 days from the date of its publication (ie, 1 Sep - tember 2025). The New Labour Law has introduced key changes to the Previous Labour Law, including, inter alia, rec - ognising new work models, such as remote work, increasing maternity leave, introducing paternity leave, and increasing the maximum number of times female employees may take unpaid leave to take care of their child. Merger Control The amendments made to Antitrust Law No 3 of 2005 (the “Antitrust Law”) in December 2022 replaced the post-notification regime for a transaction with the newly introduced pre-merger control system, whereby the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) is given the authority to review and approve proposed mergers and acquisitions prior to entering into the transac - tion. In April 2024, the Egyptian Prime Minister issued Decree No 1120 of 2024, enacting the Executive Reg - ulations of the Antitrust Law and thereby implement - ing the new amendments. The new pre-merger control system went into effect as of 1 June 2024 and requires pre-approval from the ECA for transactions that constitute “economic con - centration” between the contracting parties (namely, a change in control or material influence of a person
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