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Monday, 6 February 2023

Senate committee greenlights bill allowing informal industrial projects to get temp licenses

Senate committee approves bill handing temporary licenses to informal industrial projects: The Senate Industrial Committee approved a new government-drafted bill that would enable unlicensed industrial projects to temporarily go legit. The two-article bill would grant the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) the power for three years to allow unlicensed industrial projects to operate for a temporary one-year period. The period could be extended for an additional two years by the trade and industry minister upon the recommendations of the IDA.

Hundreds of thousands of industrial projects operate without licenses: The new bill aims to facilitate licensing measures for small-scale industrial projects to join the formal economy. “This bill is important for the Egyptian industry as building and expanding industrial projects can never be possible without first meeting all legal licensing requirements,” said committee head Mohamed Halawa. There are “hundreds of thousands of small-scale industrial projects in different governorates that are operating without having a license and as a result they are considered a part of the informal economy.”

TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR FGM?

Egypt is set to toughen penalties on female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage, Social Solidarity Minister Nevine El Qabbaj told the Senate yesterday. “We are currently in the process of drafting a new bill that will toughen penalties on FGM and early marriage crimes,” the minister said on the sidelines of a discussion of a study on family violence.

Still widespread: FGM is still widespread in rural areas, El Qabbaj said, describing the practice as still one of the worst crimes in the country. She said some in rural areas resort to early marriage without official documentation, referring to child marriage as a form of “human trafficking.”

REMEMBER– The House of Representatives approved amendments to the penal code in 2021 that hand jail terms of 5-20 years to people found guilty of committing FGM. Doctors carrying out FGM are subject to harsher penalties of up to ten-year prison terms if they cause permanent disability and between 15-20 years in case of death.

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