Egypt

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Business Environment

Business Practices

General information: Cyborlink, Website giving information on business etiquette.
World Biz , Website giving information on business etiquette.
Businessculture, Website on Egyptian business culture.
Opening hours and days: Banks: from 8:30 to 14:00 from Sunday to Thursday.
Public administration: from 8:30 to 15:00 from Sunday to Thursday.
Businesses: from 8:30 to 15:00 from Sunday to Thursday.

Public holidays

Christmas (Old calendarists)	January 7
Sinai Liberation day	April 25
Labor Day	May 1
Revolution Day	July 23
Armed Forces Day	October 6
Cham El Nessim (Spring Festival)	The first Monday following Orthodox Easter
Aid El Fitr (Ramadan Feast)	3 days public holidays marking the end of Ramadan
Aid el Adha (Sacrifice Feast)	4 days public holidays, 70 days after the end of Ramadan
Islamic New Year	Variable Date
Prophet Mohamed's Birthday	Variable Date
Orthodox Easter Monday	Variable Date

Periods when companies usually close

Aid el Fitr (Ramadan Feast)	3 days at the end of Ramadan
Aid el Adha (Sacrifice Feast)	4 days, 70 days after the end of Ramadan
Summer vacation	During the month of August, business is particularly slow

Accounting Rules

Tax year: The fiscal year starts on January 1st and ends on December 31st the same year.
Accounting standards: The accounting obligations result from the Companies Act no. 159 of 1981 and Financial Market and Money Market Act no. 95 of 1992. The Accounting Plan (the Egyptian accounting standards) is close to international accounting standards.
Accounting regulation bodies: Capital Market Authority
Accounting reports: According to the law, all companies must present to the shareholders during their annual meeting an audit report, a balance sheet, an income statement and cash flow statement.
Publication requirements: After its initial public offering, the company must present every three months a detailed report of its business (business progress and results).
Each year, a progress report and a report of the accounts (before certification) must be sent to the Capital Market Authority one month after the fiscal year end at the latest. The certified accounts cited on the Official Schedule 1 must be published in two reference journals of which at least one must be in the Arabic language.
Professional accountancy bodies: List of chartered accountants
Certification and auditing: All the accounts and reports are likely to be verified by government authorities such as the Tax Department (Internal Revenue) or the corporate department of the Department of Economy and Industry.
Accounting news: Economics and Accounting News website

Tax Rates

Consumption taxes

Nature of the tax: A "General Sales Tax (GST)" is applied.
Tax rate: Taxes usually range from 5 to 25% for products and 5 to 10% for services. Various taxes at 15%, 50%, 75%, 100% and 200% exist as well as amounts in absolute value per quantity or weight.
Basic food products, natural gas, books, magazines and goods for scientific, educative and cultural use are tax-exempted.
Reduced tax rate: -5% for products
-10% for services
Other consumption taxes: Excise duty is also collected on alcoholic drinks and coffee. An additional duty is collected on brandy, cognac, gin and whisky.

Corporate taxes

Company tax: 20%
Capital gains taxation: Long-term capital gains are subject to tax on the companies at the standard rate (20%). Profits from movable capital are not taxable.
Main allowable deductions and tax credit: Setting up in special economic zones entitles the company to tax benefits. They are only taxed at 1% of their profits or operations.
Other corporate taxes: A tax on real-estate assets has been put in place in June 2008. It is up to 10% of the rental value whether the property is rented out or not. If the property is rented, the rental value is the effective value of rent collected by the owner if it is higher than 7% of the purchase value. The owner is exempted from landed property if the value of the property is less than or equal to 500,000 EGP.

Individual taxes

Tax rate

0 to 5,000 EGP	0%
5,000 to 20,000 EGP	10%
20,000 to 40,000 EGP	15%
more than 40,000 EGP	20%

Allowable deductions and tax credit: None
Special expatriate tax regime: None

Double taxation treaties

Countries with whom a double taxation treaty have been signed: Refer the list on the Ministry of Transport's website
Whithholding taxes: Dividends paid to nonresidents are not subject to withholding tax under Egyptian domestic law.
Interest: 20%, Royalties: 20%

Sources of fiscal information

Tax Authorities: Egyptian Ministry of Finance
Other domestic resources: Egypt Tax Society's website

Intellectual Property

National organizations: Patents are protected by the Patents' Office which reports to the Education Department. Designs and trademarks are protected respectively by the Office of Designs and Models and Office of Trademarks which are departments of the Trade Register, an administrative service which comes under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
It is possible to obtain licenses for using patents and trademarks, but the agreements to use patents which involve payments outside the country must be authorized by the General Authority for Investment (GAFI). As for copyrights, they are handled by authors' societies.
Regional organizations: No regional regulation bodies for intellectual property.
International membership: Member of the WIPO
Signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property
Membership to the TRIPS agreement - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

National regulation and international agreements

Type of property and law	Validity	International agreements signed
Patent Law No. 82 of 2002 and the official orders for its application taken respectively in 2003 (no. 1366) and in 2005 (no. 497)	20 years as from the date of request submission
Trademark Law no. 82 of 2002	initial period of 10 years which can be extended indefinitely for similar periods	Trademark law treaty Nice agreement Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement
Design Law no. 82 of 2002	10 year protection which can be renewed for 5 years.
Copyright Law no. 82 of 2002	- For literary works and software programs: the lifetime of the author + 50 years - For registered works: 50 years from the registration date.	Berne convention WIPO performances and Phonograms treaty
Industrial Models Law on intellectual property no. 82	10 years validity renewable for 5 years.

Legal Framework

Independence of justice: The Egyptian legal system is considered as the most independent system of the Arab world. However, the activities related to politics and national security are usually handled by special courts.
Equal treatment of nationals and foreigners: Foreign nationals can face certain difficulties during the course of their legal proceedings.
The language of justice: Egyptian Arabic.
Recourse to an interpreter: It is possible to have recourse to an interpreter.
Sources of the law and legal similarities: The primary source of the law is the Constitution of 1971. The legal system is highly influenced by the French law. It also has influences from the common law. In fact, Sharia is crucial for the questions of civil status.
Checking national laws online: Egypt laws, paid site collating the Egyptian laws
The main Egyptian laws on the Egyptian government's website

Standards

National standards organizations: Egyptian Organization for Standards & Quality (EOS)
National Institute of Standards
Integration in the international standards network: Egypt recognizes the ISO standard. It also accepts the European standards, British, Japanese and American standards. When there is no national standard for a product, Egypt normally uses the ISO standard, the IEC or the codex alimentarius.
Classification of standards: EGP then a number / year.
Online consultation of standards: The Egyptian standards can be accessed from the EOS website on payment.
Certification organizations: Egyptian Organization for Standardization & Quality
For further information, visit the Egyptian Accreditation Council's website.

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