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Economic Legislation in the Upcomin

Economic Legislation in the Upcoming Period
In the past few weeks, no new laws or decisions affecting economic activity have been passed. This comes after the Central Bank of Egypt had issued a series of decisions over the past few weeks regulating the currency exchange market and which have been addressed in the last three issues of the Egypt Legal Update. Nonetheless, this legislative hiatus will not continue for too long since the Parliament is about to commence its legislation drafting duties following the ratification of its Internal Regulations by the State Council and the government finalizing its program and submitting it to Parliament. Consequently, due to the importance of the aforementioned to the future of Egypt’s economic legislation, we would like to use this opportunity to provide a legal explanation of what to expect in the upcoming weeks.
The Constitution and the New Parliament
The new Egyptian Constitution has been approved by a public referendum on 18 January 2014 and its provisions came into force on the same day. This was followed by the issuance of the Parliamentary Elections Law, after-which parliamentary elections were held between October and December 2015, with the final announcement of the House of Representative’s composition, and its first session on 10 January 2016. While Article 156 of the Constitution mandated that all laws issued during the preceding two years be presented to the House for confirmation or rejection within 15 days of being in session, the Parliament has indeed reviewed around 340 laws issued by the president and had approved all of them but the Civil Service Law No. 18 (see Egypt Legal Update January 2016).
Internal Regulations of the Parliament
After approving the laws issued by the President, the Parliament turned its attention to preparing its new internal regulations. The Parliament’s efforts began in February of this year, and the final draft has been ratified and sent to the State Council last Monday the 14th of March to review before passing it as law. It is worth mentioning that the Internal Regulations regulate all the Parliament’s functions including forming the committees, determining their competencies, organizing Parliament hearings, directing interrogations and requests to the government, determining members’ rights and duties, as well as other procedural regulations that the Parliament will not be able to function without. The State Council is expected to finalize its review soon and issue the new Internal Regulations before the end of this month or the outset of the next one at the most. 
The Government Program
On a related front, the Constitution introduced a new dynamic between Parliament and the government where article 146 states that the President assigns a Prime Minister of his own choice to form the government and present his program to Parliament. Parliament then studies the presented program for no more than thirty days after which it proceeds – with a majority of its members – to relay to, or withhold confidence from, the proposed government. If the government fails to win the confidence of Parliament, the President appoints a new Prime Minister based on the nomination of the party or the coalition that holds a plurality of seats in the Parliament. If this second formation also fails to win the confidence of Parliament within the ensuing 30 days, the Parliament is deemed dissolved, and the President is required to call for the elections of a new Parliament within 60 from the date the dissolution is announced. Subsequently, the new government was formed on the 23rd of March. It presented its program to Parliament on 27 March 2016, and the Parliament is currently studying it, a process that is expected to take up to thirty days before deciding whether it will relay or withhold confidence to the new government. Consequently, the ratification of the government’s program by Parliament will not only serve to identify the political and economic leanings of the government, but it will determine the primary legislations that the government will present to Parliament in the upcoming period.
The Future of Economic Legislation
From the above it becomes clear that a massive legislative effort is expected to follow the ratification of Parliament’s Internal Regulations as well as the discussion and ratification of the government’s proposed program. It is also apparent that the government’s program will include many important legislations, including – according to what has been published in the media – the amended Civil Service law, the Value-Added Tax law, the Comprehensive Health Insurance law, and the new Industrial Licensing law, Labor Law, and the international agreements with international funding organizations. Additionally, we are hoping that the Parliament would amend the Investment Law in the near future. Egypt Legal Update will proceed to cover all these laws as soon as they are issued.
In the past few weeks, no new laws or decisions affecting economic activity have been passed. This comes after the Central Bank of Egypt had issued a series of decisions over the past few weeks regulating the currency exchange market and which have been addressed in the last three issues of the Egypt Legal Update. Nonetheless, this legislative hiatus will not continue for too long since the Parliament is about to commence its legislation drafting duties following the ratification of its Internal Regulations by the State Council and the government finalizing its program and submitting it to Parliament. Consequently, due to the importance of the aforementioned to the future of Egypt’s economic legislation, we would like to use this opportunity to provide a legal explanation of what to expect in the upcoming weeks.
The Constitution and the New Parliament
The new Egyptian Constitution has been approved by a public referendum on 18 January 2014 and its provisions came into force on the same day. This was followed by the issuance of the Parliamentary Elections Law, after-which parliamentary elections were held between October and December 2015, with the final announcement of the House of Representative’s composition, and its first session on 10 January 2016. While Article 156 of the Constitution mandated that all laws issued during the preceding two years be presented to the House for confirmation or rejection within 15 days of being in session, the Parliament has indeed reviewed around 340 laws issued by the president and had approved all of them but the Civil Service Law No. 18 (see Egypt Legal Update January 2016).
Internal Regulations of the Parliament
After approving the laws issued by the President, the Parliament turned its attention to preparing its new internal regulations. The Parliament’s efforts began in February of this year, and the final draft has been ratified and sent to the State Council last Monday the 14th of March to review before passing it as law. It is worth mentioning that the Internal Regulations regulate all the Parliament’s functions including forming the committees, determining their competencies, organizing Parliament hearings, directing interrogations and requests to the government, determining members’ rights and duties, as well as other procedural regulations that the Parliament will not be able to function without. The State Council is expected to finalize its review soon and issue the new Internal Regulations before the end of this month or the outset of the next one at the most. 
The Government Program
On a related front, the Constitution introduced a new dynamic between Parliament and the government where article 146 states that the President assigns a Prime Minister of his own choice to form the government and present his program to Parliament. Parliament then studies the presented program for no more than thirty days after which it proceeds – with a majority of its members – to relay to, or withhold confidence from, the proposed government. If the government fails to win the confidence of Parliament, the President appoints a new Prime Minister based on the nomination of the party or the coalition that holds a plurality of seats in the Parliament. If this second formation also fails to win the confidence of Parliament within the ensuing 30 days, the Parliament is deemed dissolved, and the President is required to call for the elections of a new Parliament within 60 from the date the dissolution is announced. Subsequently, the new government was formed on the 23rd of March. It presented its program to Parliament on 27 March 2016, and the Parliament is currently studying it, a process that is expected to take up to thirty days before deciding whether it will relay or withhold confidence to the new government. Consequently, the ratification of the government’s program by Parliament will not only serve to identify the political and economic leanings of the government, but it will determine the primary legislations that the government will present to Parliament in the upcoming period.
The Future of Economic Legislation
From the above it becomes clear that a massive legislative effort is expected to follow the ratification of Parliament’s Internal Regulations as well as the discussion and ratification of the government’s proposed program. It is also apparent that the government’s program will include many important legislations, including – according to what has been published in the media – the amended Civil Service law, the Value-Added Tax law, the Comprehensive Health Insurance law, and the new Industrial Licensing law, Labor Law, and the international agreements with international funding organizations. Additionally, we are hoping that the Parliament would amend the Investment Law in the near future. Egypt Legal Update will proceed to cover all these laws as soon as they are issued.