Obtaining industrial license within 7 days instead of 600.
Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced today the adoption of the executive regulations of Law no. 15 of 2017 on facilitating the procedures of obtaining industrial licenses, previously passed by the Parliament and launched according to a presidential decree last May.
“The new regulation aims at facilitating the licensing process; cutting paperwork and reducing bureaucracy; hence, making it easier for investors and enterprises to obtain industrial permits, as well as resolving the issue related to operation permits- one of the key factors affecting Egypt’s ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report,” Kabil said during the press conference held at headquarters of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Cairo, in the presence of many Egyptian business leaders and government officials.
“This law would make a quantum leap in the investment rates, eventually putting Egypt among the top attractive investment destinations worldwide,” he added.
The new law, he said, determined one authority, instead of 11 in the old law, to be responsible for granting industrial licenses, while adopting, for the first time, a notification licensing system for low-risk industries, which account for 80% of Egyptian industries.
Kabil pointed out that, according to the new regulations, the process would take about 7 days for a license by notification and almost 30 days for a prior license instead of 600 days, in addition to the automatization of procedures and the adoption of a new system for complaints.
The executive regulations also authorized mandating private accreditation offices to determine industrial facilities’ compliance with regulatory requirements. In case all conditions are met, the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) should decide upon an industrial license request within 30 days.
Kabil affirmed that the executive regulations clearly defined the inspection standards of industrial facilities, in addition to imposing a fine of not less than EGP 5,000 and not exceeding EGP 100,000 to whoever disrupts the work of any licensed industrial facility.
The minister pointed out that the regulations included much facilitation for SMEs, including the development of special requirements to suit their nature, increasing the time limit granted to these projects in the notification licensing system and exempting them from half of the fees.