REGULATION WATCH- Factory owners get a small break with amendments to regulations under the Industrial Registry Act: Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil issued amendments yesterday to the executive regulations for the Industrial Registry Act, bringing them up to speed with the Industrial Permits Act, according to a ministry statement. The amendments make it mandatory for factory owners to sign their businesses on to the industrial registry within 30 days of the start of operations. It, however, relieves them from having to provide social security documents with their applications, requiring them to present only their industrial permits and commercial registration documents. They also scrap the temporary industrial registry, allowing temporary registration only on an exceptional case-by-case basis. The Industrial Permits Act, which came into effect last year, expedites industrial licensing proceedings for manufacturers, who now deal with one government agency only as opposed to 11 before, shortening the wait time for permits to 30 days.