LEGISLATION WATCH- El Sisi ratifies Data Protection + SMEs acts: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi signed into law on Thursday the Data Protection Act, which lays out the ground rules for how businesses use personal information collected online. The legislation does not apply to activities regulated by the Central Bank of Egypt or the Financial Regulatory Authority. El Sisi also ratified the SMEs Act, which includes tax and non-tax incentives to support SMEs to go legit.

The final version of the Data Protection Act still imposes prison sentences on some instances of non-compliance (but not as many as the original). The legislation, which enshrines users’ right to take legal action against parties responsible for data breaches and misuse of private information, will impose a prison sentence of at least six months or a EGP 200k-2 mn fine on individuals who received monetary compensation for data breaches or intentionally distribute private information to harm the involved parties. Prison sentences will also be imposed on anyone found guilty of obstructing justice or preventing a new personal data protection unit under the Information Technology Industry Development Agency — which will be given powers of arrest — from carrying out its work. Check out our comprehensive breakdown of the legislation and how it may affect you and your business.

The president also ratified a law regulating parking attendants (the infamous sayess), which will impose six-month jail terms or fines of up to EGP 10k on unlicensed attendants.