Companies barred from importing their products didn’t submit their documents on time, says Trade Ministry: The decision to temporarily suspend some international companies from exporting products to Egypt was taken due to their failure to comply with the government’s factory registration requirements, the Trade Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Wait, what? The local press on Saturday picked up on a list (pdf) of companies suspended from exporting their goods here, published on the General Organization for Export and Import Control’s (GOEIC) website. GOEIC, a unit of the Trade Ministry, is in charge of regulating the flow of goods in and out of the country. The list spread like wildfire across social media and WhatsApp groups, mainly because it includes companies — such as Almarai and Unilever — that produce well-known household brands. GOEIC had previously warned that some companies had until 20 May to fix issues with their registration status.

How the rules work: The government in 2016 began requiring some foreign companies to register with GOEIC before exporting goods to Egypt. Registration is currently required for 29 categories of goods, including agricultural and food products, cosmetics, toys, textiles, garments, household appliances, furniture, and ceramic tiles. Before being allowed to do business with Egyptian importers, companies must submit documents (think: quality certificates, proof of trademark ownership, etc.) to GOEIC that provide information about the factories where goods are manufactured. This allows the authority to verify that the products meet Egyptian standards.

The official explanation: Under a decision (pdf) taken last month to streamline import registration procedures, companies are now required to renew documents within 30 days of their expiry. Those who fail to meet requirements by the deadline are taken off the list of approved exporting companies and have a 60-day window to appeal. According to the ministry statement, companies that hadn’t filed their paperwork were given a two-week warning before GOEIC then moved to suspend them.

A one-year ban? The statement suggests that companies that did not submit the required documentation on time could be prevented from exporting to Egypt for an entire year. Companies can appeal to a grievance committee, the Ministry says. Some 122 companies have already submitted their updated documents since the beginning of the year, according to the statement.

Ministry insists no prejudice at work: The decision “does not target specific companies or the products of specific countries,” the ministry said. The EU last year filed a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Egypt’s “arbitrary” registration requirements, alleging that they violate trade rules and are responsible for a 40% fall in European exports to Egypt.

KSA exports will continue to flow as usual: The ministry later issued a second statement announcing that no Saudi products would be blocked from entering the country despite 24 Saudi exporters being included on the list of suspended companies. A ministry spokesperson “denied the issuance of any decisions that would prevent the export of Saudi products to the Egyptian market,” the statement read. It added that some Saudi exporters to Egypt are in the process of updating their registration paperwork.

Some international companies were struck from the list after they set up factories in Egypt and no longer need to export products to the local market, the statement added.

This includes Unilever: One of the companies named in the list was consumer goods giant Unilever, which quickly denied the news that its business in Egypt had been disrupted. Unilever said that all its commercial activities in Egypt are operating normally, including export and import, in accordance with Egyptian laws and regulations. Some of the company’s products (such as Lipton tea) are not required to be registered, it added. Many other products are completely manufactured in the company’s factories in Egypt for export to more than 45 Arab, African and European countries, Unilever said.

Industry reacts: Companies should get two written warnings before being subject to delisting to make sure they are informed of the deadlines, Al Borsa quotes Sayed El Nawawi, vice-president of the importers decision at Egypt’s chambers of commerce (the unfortunately-named FEDCOC), as saying. Suspensions cause confusion in the markets and force companies to pay registration fees again, he added.