In brief This is some guardedly good news for foreign investors operating in Egypt who are interested in establishing vehicles to import commodities for direct trading on the domestic market in Egypt (i.e., importation for trading). A company can now be majority or wholly-owned by foreign nationals or foreign entities and apply for the importation license for commercial resale. However, the importation license will only be granted for 10 years with a possible renewal for…
In brief In a significant development, the National Council for Wages has finally set the long awaited salary thresholds applicable to the private sector: Minimum wage: EGP 2400 per monthMinimum annual salary increase: 3% per year These changes which are implemented by virtue of decree No. 57 of 2021 will apply as of 1 January 2022. What has changed? Effective January 2022: All companies must ensure that their employees receive no less than EGP 2,400…
In brief Recent developments in the labour laws of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been issued to bridge the gender- pay gap between men and women. The updates have been in relation to: (i) prohibiting discrimination, whether in pay or otherwise, between male and female employees who carry out the same job in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain; (ii) introducing paternity leave in the UAE; and (iii) granting female…
In brief After several years of debate, the Egyptian government has introduced the Republic’s first standalone data protection law, which aims to regulate and protect citizens’ data online. On 15 July 2020, Resolution No. 151 of 2020 (the Law) (available in Arabic here) was published in the Official Gazette. The provisions under the new Law are modeled on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law adopts similar concepts and definitions. It is…
In the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis, working-from-home has become the new normal, however, it does present a number of practical challenges, including how to execute legally binding documents. It has long been common practice for deal documents to be signed in counterpart, on different days, by signatories in different corners of the globe, but with our freedom of movement curtailed and home printing capabilities limited, feasible options are often restricted. Electronic contract execution…