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Find out moreWe are excited to share the latest edition of the Law Update, beautifully and appropriately titled “Sustainable Horizons: The Saudi Arabian Vision.” Giving special honor to the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, this update focuses on a collection of both informative and inspiring articles.
For those in construction, you can learn about how the tendering environment impacts risk-pricing for contractors, the updates on the legal framework of the construction industry and how contractors can protect themselves against financial difficulties.
There is good news too from the kingdom’s banking sector, from which the practice of “Open Banking” is being pushed for! But what is open banking? We’re answering that too.
Also . . . Are there any women trail blazers in Saudi Arabia you can name? We’ll help you with that. We cover how the Middle East has been making strides in empowering women in the entrepreneurial space,most notably in STEM fields.
Read the full editionOn the 17th of April 2022, the General Organization for Import and Export Control (GOEIC) announced the suspension of import activities of several companies and factories to Egypt for violating Ministerial Decree no.43 of 2016 (“Old Ministerial Decree”) issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The Old Ministerial Decree sets out the registration conditions of the competent companies and factories to export their product to the Arab Republic of Egypt, it is important to highlight that said registration conditions were amended by the issuance of Ministerial Decree no.195 of 2022 (the “New Ministerial Decree”) on the 31 March 2022.
Under the Old Ministerial Decree, products imported for trading purposes may not be released from customs unless produced by foreign factories registered in Egypt and imported from trademark-owning companies or from registered distribution centers.
The requirements for registration in the register are as follows:
The issuance of the New Ministerial Decree has amended the registration procedures for foreign factories and trademark-owning companies and added the following conditions to the above mentioned requirements:
Prior to the issuance of the New Ministerial Decree, the Minister of Foreign Trade had the right to grant exemptions from any registration requirement. Said right was revoked by the issuance of the New Ministerial Decree.
On the 18th of April 2022, GOEIC has issued a statement clarifying the suspension decision, the reason behind it and its procedures. In its statement, GOEIC mentioned that the reason behind such suspension decision was due to the fact that many foreign companies and factories neglected to renew the documents that had an expiration date.
Further, the statement mentioned that in the event of expiration of a document, a notice is sent regarding the expired document to violating companies and factories for a period of two weeks on GOEIC’s website.
Failure to renew said documents results in the suspension of import activities for a period of one year. In the event of recurrence, the company will then be written off due to its lack of seriousness in entering the Egyptian market.
Upon the renewal of the registration, suspended companies can resume importing their products.
Should you wish to learn more about the newly promulgated Ministerial Decree, please contact Ayman Sherif Nour, Partner, Head of Corporate Structuring, Egypt Office and/or Hadia ElBeshry, Senior Associate, Egypt Office.
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