Be on the lookout for a wave of new economic legislation coming soon from a Parliament near you: The House of Representatives has sent key economic legislation its various committees for review. Most important among these is the Natural Gas Act, which would deregulate the natural gas industry and see the state step back to become the market regulator and provider of pipelines, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Last we had heard, Maglis El Dowla would not complete its review of the law until December, making this a significant change of pace for a law that had been gathering dust for over a year. Other legislation includes the Industrial Permits Act (which expedites the issuing of permits for factories) and a Food Safety Authority Act (which would establish a new regulator for the food industry).

Meanwhile, Consumer Protection Agency head Atef Yakoub (resident troll of capitalists nationwide) says a Consumer Protection Act — which would allow cabinet to fix prices on “strategic” consumer goods for a period of up to two years — will be law in a few weeks, according to Al Mal.

Election debate about to begin? Look for jousting in various committees of the House of Representative as MPs prepare to debate the bill that would govern how local district council elections are run and another that would establish a National Elections Commission. The latter would need to be in place no later than fall 2017, we believe, to keep the 2018 presidential election (due to take place sometime between February and May 2018) on schedule. The NEC would be responsible for all elections (local, parliamentary and presidential) as well as referendums, Ahram Online reports.