EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohamed Hashish, Farida Rezk, Omar Aboul-Ella and Mariam Rabie, Soliman, Hashish & Partners
rule and/or stipulation originating from either the employment contract, employment practice, or any other employer resolution or internal work regulation, grants the employee better rights and/or benefits not provided by the provisions of the Labour Law, said rule and/or stipulation shall remain valid. The Egyptian Income Tax Law No 91 of 2005 provides that the monthly gross salaries of employees shall be subject to taxes, to be deducted from each employee’s monthly gross salary, based on the relevant tax bracket of each employee’s annual salary. In accordance with the Egyptian Social Insur - ance and Pensions Law No 148 of 2019, all Egyptian entities are required to register with the Social Insurance Authority and insure their employees. 2.6 National Security Review GAFI requires any foreign shareholder to sub - mit an application for and obtain a security clearance, although in practice GAFI usually approves changes in shareholding structures and the incorporation of companies before the outcome of such security clearance procedure, with the exception of certain nationalities, such as China, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Israel, Iran, Belarus, Bangladesh, Iraq and Palestine, as such restricted nationalities require an advance security clearance. However, GAFI has recently started to relax the condition of obtaining secu - rity clearance prior to certifying general assem - bly minutes approving new shareholders on a case-by-case basis. A security clearance must be obtained for any foreigner to work or do business in Egypt. Fur - thermore, according to Law No 305 of 2015 on work permit procedures and requirements for
foreigners, work permits must also be obtained for any foreign employees to be employed by the relevant company. A national security review is also required in order to acquire businesses operating in certain sectors, such as hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. 3. Recent Legal Developments 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments The most significant recent legal developments in Egypt include the following: • The amendment of the Antitrust Law in December 2022 to replace the post-notifica - tion regime for a transaction with a pre-merg - er control system, whereby the ECA is given the authority to review and approve proposed mergers and acquisitions prior to entering into the transaction, and issuance of the Execu - tive Regulations thereof in 2024 and effective - ness of the new merger control regime as of 1 June 2024. • The FRA issued Decree No 286 of 2023 regarding the rules and procedures for the establishment and licensing of emerging financial technology companies to engage in non-banking financing activities includ - ing, inter alia, real estate financing, consumer financing and factoring. • By virtue of Law No 173 of 2023, the foreign ownership restriction on importation has been lifted, permitting limited liability compa - nies 51% of the quotas of which are owned by non-Egyptian partners to register in the Importers’ Registry, provided that the total duration of registration does not exceed ten
641 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook