Law 8 of 1997 regarding investment guarantees and incentives
Law 8 of 1997
In the name of the people President of the Republic
The People’s Assembly has decided the following law, and we have issued it :
Resolution:
(Article One)
The provisions of the accompanying law regarding investment guarantees and incentives shall be enforced.
(Article Five)
The Prime Minister issues the executive regulations of the attached law within three months from the date of its enforcement.
(Article Six)
This law shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall come into force on the day following the date of its publication. This law shall be stamped with the seal of the state, and enforced as one of its laws. Issued at the Presidency of the Republic on Muharram 4, 1418 AH. (Corresponding to May 11, 1997 AD).
Chapter One: General Provisions
Article 1
The provisions of this law shall apply to all companies and establishments, regardless of the legal system they are subject to, that are established after the date of its enforcement to carry out their activities in any of the following fields:
– Reclamation and cultivation of waste and desert lands or one of them.
– Animal, poultry and fish production.
– Industry and mining.
– Hotels, motels, hotel apartments, tourist villages, and tourist transportation.
– Refrigerated transport of goods, refrigerators for preserving agricultural crops, industrial products, foodstuffs, container stations and silos.
– Air transport and related services directly.
– Maritime transport on the high seas.
– Petroleum services that support drilling, exploration and gas transportation and delivery.
– Housing whose units are fully rented vacant for non-administrative housing purposes.
– Infrastructure including drinking water, sewage, electricity, roads and communications.
– Hospitals and medical and treatment centers that provide 10% of their capacity for free.
– Financial leasing.
– Ensuring the subscription of securities.
– Venture capital.
– Production of computer programs and systems.
– Projects financed by the Social Fund for Development.
– The Council of Ministers may add other areas required by the country’s needs.
– The executive regulations of this law determine the conditions and limits of the aforementioned fields.
Article 2
The enjoyment by companies and establishments with various purposes and activities of investment guarantees and incentives, including tax exemptions, is limited to their activity in the areas specified in the previous article and those added by the Council of Ministers.
Article 3
The provisions of this law do not prejudice any advantages, tax exemptions, or other better guarantees and incentives established by other legislation or agreements.
Article 5
The administrative authority determined by the executive regulations of this law shall allocate the lands owned by the state or public legal persons necessary for companies and establishments and conclude their contracts on behalf of the concerned authorities, and these authorities shall provide that entity with all maps and data of the lands available to them for this purpose and the terms and rules of contracting in this regard. This authority shall also obtain from the concerned authorities, on behalf of the owners of companies and establishments, all the necessary licenses for their establishment, management and operation. Article 6 The request to file a criminal case in the crimes stipulated in Articles 124 of the Customs Law promulgated by Law No. 66 of 1963 and 191 of the Income Tax Law promulgated by Law No. 157 of 1981 and 45 of the General Sales Tax Law promulgated by Law No. 11 of 1991 and 9 From Law No. 38 of 1994 regulating dealing in foreign exchange, after taking the opinion of the competent administrative authority if the person accused of committing the crime is affiliated with one of the companies or establishments subject to the provisions of this law. The competent administrative authority shall express its opinion in this regard within fifteen days from the date of receiving the opinion survey letter, otherwise a request may be filed.
Article 7
Investment disputes related to the implementation of the provisions of this law may be settled in the manner agreed upon with the investor, and it is also permissible to agree between the concerned parties to settle these disputes within the framework of the agreements in force between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the investor’s country or within the framework of the agreement on settling disputes arising from investments between countries and between Nationals of other countries to which the Arab Republic of Egypt joined by Law No. 90 of 1971, according to the terms and conditions and in the cases in which those agreements apply, or in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters promulgated by Law No. 27 of 1994. It is also permissible to agree on settling the aforementioned disputes. Through arbitration before the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration.
Chapter Two: Investment Guarantees
Article 8
Companies and establishments may not be nationalized or confiscated.
Article 9
It is not permissible by administrative means to impose guarding on companies and establishments, or to seize their funds, or to seize, seize, freeze or confiscate them.
Article 14
Joint stock companies, partnerships limited by shares, or limited liability companies, whose activities are limited to the areas referred to in Article 1 of this law, are not subject to the provisions of Articles (17, 18, 19 and 41), the first and fourth paragraphs of Article (77) and Articles (83, 92, and 93). of the Law of Joint Stock Companies, Partnerships Limited by Shares, and Limited Liability Companies, promulgated by Law No. 159 of 1981. The founding shares and shares may be traded during the company’s first two fiscal years with the approval of the Prime Minister or his authorized representative. The competent administrative authority shall replace the companies’ interest in applying the provisions of Law No. 159 of 1981 referred to and its executive regulations, for the aforementioned companies.
Shareholding companies are not subject to the provisions of Law No. 73 of 1973 regarding determining the conditions and procedures for electing workers’ representatives on the boards of directors of public sector units, joint stock companies, associations and private institutions.
Article 15
Joint stock companies are excluded from the application of the provisions of Law No. 113 of 1958 regarding appointment to jobs in joint stock companies and public institutions, and Article 24 of the Labor Law promulgated by Law No. 137 of 1981.
Chapter Three: Investment Incentives Chapter One:
Tax Exemptions Article 16 Exempted from the tax on the revenues of commercial and industrial activity or the tax on the profits of capital companies, as the case may be, the profits of companies and establishments and the shares of their partners, for a period of five years starting from the first fiscal year following the start of production or practicing the activity. The exemption is for a period of ten years for companies and establishments that are established within the new industrial zones, new urban communities and remote areas to be determined by a decision of the Prime Minister, as well as new projects financed by the Social Fund for Development. Article 17 Exempted from the tax on the revenues of commercial and industrial activity, or the tax on the profits of capital companies, as the case may be, the profits of companies and establishments that practice their activities outside the Old Valley, as well as the shares of the partners therein, equal if they are established outside this valley or transferred from it, for a period of twenty years starting From the first fiscal year following the start of production or practicing the activity.
A decision of the Council of Ministers shall specify the areas to which this text applies.
Article 23
Companies and establishments are subject to the provisions of Article 4 of the Law Regulating Customs Exemptions promulgated by Law No. 186 of 1986 regarding the collection of a customs tax of a uniform category of 5% of the value, on all imported machinery, equipment and devices necessary for its establishment.
Article 24
Profits resulting from the merger or division of companies or changing their legal form are exempted from taxes and fees due due to merger, division or change of legal form.
Article 25
Merging and merging companies and establishments, and companies and establishments that are divided or whose legal form is changed, enjoy the exemptions prescribed for them prior to the merger, division or change of the legal form until their exemption periods expire, and the merger, division or change of legal form does not entail any new tax exemptions.
Article 26
Exempted from the tax on the revenues of commercial and industrial activity, or the tax on the profits of capital companies, as the case may be, is the result of evaluating the in-kind shares that are included in the establishment of joint-stock companies, or recommending shares or companies with limited liability, or in increasing their capital. Article 27
The executive regulation of this law defines the conditions, rules and procedures for enjoying tax exemptions automatically without interruption to administrative approval, provided that the exemption is canceled in case of violation of these conditions and rules. The cancellation of the exemption is issued by a decision of the Prime Minister based on the presentation of the competent administrative authority, and the person concerned may appeal this decision before the Administrative Court within thirty days from the date of its announcement or knowledge of it.
Chapter Two: Land Allocation
Article 28
It is permissible by a decision of the Council of Ministers, based on the proposal of the competent minister, to allocate lands owned by the state or to public legal persons for companies and establishments that are established in certain areas in the areas specified in Article 1 of this law, free of charge and in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the executive regulations of this law. the law.
Chapter Three: Free Zones
Article 29
A free zone that includes an entire city shall be established by law. Public free zones shall be established by a decision of the Council of Ministers based on a proposal by the competent administrative authority, in order to establish projects that are licensed, whatever their legal form. By a decision from the competent administrative authority, special free zones may be established, each of which is limited to one project if its nature so requires. The competent administrative authority may also approve the transformation of a project established inside the country into a private free zone in light of the controls specified by the executive regulations of this law. The decision issued to establish the free zone shall include a statement of its location and boundaries. The public free zone shall be managed by a board of directors to be formed and appointed by a decision of the competent administrative authority. The board of directors is responsible for implementing the provisions of this law, its executive regulations, and the decisions issued by the aforementioned authority.
Article 30
The competent administrative authority shall set the policy for the free zones, and it may take whatever decisions it deems necessary to achieve the purpose for which these zones are established, in particular: (a) Laying down the bylaws and regulations necessary for the management of free zones. (B) Setting conditions for granting licenses, occupancy of lands and real estate, rules of entry and exit of goods, provisions for their registration, fees for occupying places in which they are deposited, examination of documents and review, and the system for monitoring and guarding these areas, and collection of fees owed to the state.