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Sunday, 15 April 2018

Parliament committees pass Upper Egypt Development Authority legislation, Cyber Crimes Act clauses on user data

LEGISLATION WATCH- There will soon be a new authority to drive development in Upper Egypt. Parliament’s Local Administration Committee approved on Wednesday a bill to set up the Supreme Authority for Upper Egypt Development, Al Mal reports. The committee is recommending that the executive regulations for the bill require a financial and progress review of the authority’s projects every 3-5 months, committee undersecretary Ahmed El Segeny tells the newspaper.

Parliament’s ICT Committee also signed off on clauses of the Cyber Crimes Act pertaining to user data security. The committee approved during its meeting on Thursday clauses that would require service providers to protect data privacy except in cases where the government presents a legal order to access said data, according to Ahram Gate. Violators would be fined EGP 5,000-20,000 and could face a prison sentence of at least one year, the newspaper reports. The committee also passed an article in the legislation that would penalize internet service providers for failing to implement bans imposed on websites deemed to pose a threat to national security, Al Masry Al Youm reports. The committee had approved last month a clause of the legislation allowing the Prosecutor General to ban websites that publish content deemed criminal. Final voting at committee on the Cyber Crimes Act will begin today, House ICT Committee chair Nedal Al Saeed has said, according to Ahram Gate.

Your friendly neighborhood sayess is about to be legalized? The Local Administration Committee passed on Thursday a draft law to regulate public parking and the work of “sayess” (parking attendants). The draft law would require attendants to obtain a license scouting as much as EGP 1,000 and would entitle them to charge customers a set, regulated parking rate per hour, Ahram Gate reports. Attendants would be required to be literate, above the age of 21, and hold a valid driver’s license, among other stipulations.

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