Industry Minister forms committee to set licenses’ conditions

CAIRO - 28 August 2017: Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil formed Monday a committee to set conditions of granting industrial licenses to facilities, a statement from the Ministry said.

To be headed by chairman of the Industrial Development Authority, the committee will determine technical terms related to environmental, industrial security, safety, professional health and civil defense rules, in addition to the standards of the industrial activities’ buildings.

Scheduled to hold a meeting once every week, members of the committee will include representatives of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), IDA’s licensing unit and industrial experts.

Earlier this month, the executive regulation of the new Industrial Permits Act was ratified. As per the regulations, the industrial licenses will be given in less than a week, but the risky industries will get permits in less than 30 days.

Kabil explained previously that 80 percent of the projects will be granted licenses upon notifications, while 20 percent will have to wait for the approval of IDA due to being categorized as “risky” industries.

On May 9, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi approved the 15/2017 Industrial Permits Act that aims at easing measures for obtaining licenses for industrial establishments. The act entails granting investors needed approvals in no more than one month, instead of a period of almost two years under the old law, No. 83, 2002.