Formation of the Technical Secretar

On 16 April 2019, the Prime Minister issued a decree amending the rules governing the Technical Secretariat of the Supreme Committee for Advising on International Arbitration Cases (the “Supreme Committee”).[1] The committee itself was established and reorganized in 2013 and 2014 respectively, and in April 2019, a Prime Ministerial Decree introduced significant changes to its composition while simultaneously expanding its powers.[2] The new decree focuses on the composition and mandate of the Technical Secretariat, which is expected to be the driving force behind the substantive work of the Supreme Committee.

Composition

The Technical Secretariat will be headed by the Deputy Minister of Justice for Arbitration and International Disputes and will include representatives of the Arbitration and International Disputes Department of the Ministry of Justice, as well as representatives of the entities that sit on the Supreme Committee for Advising on International Arbitration Cases. This includes representatives of the Ministries of Defence and Interior, the Administrative Control Authority, and the General Intelligence.

Mandate

The Technical Secretariat is mandated to do the groundwork necessary for the operation of the Supreme Committee. The Supreme Committee is mainly empowered with 1) reviewing legal submissions filed on behalf of the Egyptian government or public entities in commercial and investment arbitration, and 2) directing negotiations to reach amicable resolution of disputes. To assist it, the Technical Secretariat will:

1. Do preparatory research on the relevant cases and disputes;
2. Cooperate with the Technical Secretariat of the Ministerial Committee for the Settlement of Investment Contracts Disputes, another committee with similar jurisdiction set up by the Investment Law;
3. Request the production of relevant documents and evidence from public entities; and
4. In coordination with the Supreme Committee, assign experts to opine on the relevant dispute.

Conclusion

The Supreme Committee is one of several entities set up by the government to deal with investment disputes. These efforts have largely aimed at sending positive messages to investors and attempting to settle disputes before they develop into full-scale arbitration proceedings while simultaneously playing a positive role in ongoing proceedings, after suffering from several large-scale negative investment arbitration decisions. The new Supreme Committee boasts a “stronger” composition, with the involvement of ministries that have a bigger leverage. Moreover, both the 2014 and 2019 decrees stipulate that no administrative authority may undertake any action with respect to an arbitral dispute without reverting to the Committee, and that the Supreme Committee’s decisions are binding on all administrative authorities once it has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Nonetheless, the success or failure of the Supreme Committee will depend in part on its ability to coordinate with other similar committees and public entities that are involved in arbitration matters as well as its ability to coordinate with the legal teams assigned to represent the public entity in question on any relevant case. As such, the Technical Secretariat is headed by the Deputy Minister of Justice for Arbitration and International Disputes, who is simultaneously the head of the Ministerial Committee for the Settlement of Investment Contracts Disputes, which was formed by the Prime Minister’s Decree No. 2377 of 2017.   [1] Prime Ministerial Decree No. 396/2020 governing the Technical Committee of the Supreme Committee for Advising on International Arbitration Cases, Official Gazette, Issue No. 7 (bis) (b), 16 February 2020. [2] Prime Ministerial Decree No. 1062/2019 regulating the Supreme Committee for Advising on International Arbitration Cases, Official Gazette, Issue No. 16 (bis) (i), 24 April 2019.