EGYPT Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mohamed Hashish, Farida Rezk, Omar Aboul-Ella and Mariam Rabie, Soliman, Hashish & Partners
• The establishment of the investment project in one of the undeveloped areas, including, inter alia, Southern Giza Governorate, the governorates of the Suez Canal Region: Port Said, Ismailia and Suez (east of the canal), border governorates, including the Red Sea Governorate to the south of Safaga, and Upper Egypt governorates. • 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 pro - ject shall be securing strategic goods for the country, thereby reducing reliance on imports. • The investment project shall lessen environ - mental impact via reducing gas and tempera - ture emissions and climate improvement. • The investment project shall offer a labour- intensive investment project by employing not less than 500 Egyptian nationals. It is worth noting that as of March 2024, a total of 29 Golden Licences have been issued by GAFI, of which six Golden Licences were granted in 2024. Furthermore, recent amendments have been made to the Investment Law’s Executive Regu - lations by virtue of Decree No 2140 of 2023 to promote foreign direct investment. This includes the Private Free Zones regime, including the incorporation of a provision permitting the Cabi - net to approve the establishment of any projects in the Private Free Zone, upon a proposal from the competent minister after GAFI conducts an assessment of the project, subject to various conditions. Furthermore, the aforementioned Decree lifted some of the requirements for establishing pro - jects in the Private Free Zones, including:
• the requirement to check initially whether there is a location in the Public Free Zone that would accommodate the project; • the minimum capital requirement of USD10 million, and the investment costs thereof not being less than USD20 million or its equiva - lent 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, this Decree has introduced provi - sions regarding the inclusion of the services industry under the Private Free Zone system. Labour Law It is worth noting that on 3 May 2025, the New Egyptian Labour Law No 14 of 2025 (the “New Labour Law”) was officially published, replac - ing the previous Labour Law No 12 of 2003 (the ”Previous Labour Law”). In accordance with its provisions, the New Labour Law shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the lapse of ninety days from the date of its publica - tion (ie, 1 September 2025). The New Labour Law has introduced new key changes to the Previous Labour Law, including, inter alia, recognising new work models, such as remote work, increasing maternity leave, the introduction of paternity leave, and increasing the maximum duration of unpaid leave available to female employees for childcare purposes. Merger Control The amendments made to the Anti-Trust Law No 5 of 2003 (the “Antitrust Law”) in Decem - ber 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 author - ity to review and approve proposed mergers and acquisitions prior to entering into the transac -
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