Parliament Diaries| A rare consensus on import reform

Before adjourning the House and announcing that Parliament would reconvene on March 1, Speaker Hisham Badawi moved swiftly through the final item on the agenda: preliminary approval of government-proposed amendments to the Importers Register Law.

It was not the first time the chamber had revisited this legislation. MPs amended it in 2018, and on Sunday the law returned to the floor with little of the friction that often accompanies economic files.

What stood out was the ease of consensus. Opposition and majority MPs, along with representatives of importers, seemed to converge around the same vocabulary. More than one parliamentary bloc leader described the amendments as “important,” “logical,” and “necessary”—adjectives that echoed across the hall with notable harmony.

According to the joint report issued by the Economic Affairs Committee and the Bureau of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, the amendments aim to regulate the import system in a way that advances economic development goals. They would allow companies applying for registration in the Importers Register to pay their capital requirements—or the capital recorded in the commercial register—in foreign currencies.

In practical terms, this opens the door for firms whose capital is denominated in foreign currency to be listed without procedural obstacles.

The changes also introduce legal facilitations allowing companies to maintain their registration in the event of a change in legal form or in the case of the registrant’s death—technical details, perhaps, but ones that matter in the daily life of businesses.

Another notable provision grants the competent authority at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade the right to reach settlements with defendants in certain offenses stipulated under the law. The language of “settlement” surfaced repeatedly throughout the session, framed as flexibility rather than leniency.

The report situates the amendments within the government’s broader effort to “regulate the import system” in a way that serves development objectives and supports the national economy—a familiar formulation, though one that now carries added weight amid ongoing foreign currency pressures.

Ahmed Essam, head of the parliamentary bloc of the Congress Party, described the amendments as “an important step in light of the current economic challenges, which require tighter oversight of the import system and more rational use of foreign currency.”

He reminded the chamber that the law, in force for more than 40 years, “has been amended several times to address practical problems such as letters of guarantee, fees, currencies, notification periods, and changes in companies’ legal form. However, the current phase requires broader and deeper reforms to regulate imports and link them to the needs of the local market.”

Yet even as he announced his bloc’s preliminary approval, Essam raised a question that briefly punctured the consensus: What had the General Organization for Export and Import Control done to reduce customs clearance times and address shortages in laboratories and technical equipment? Regulation, he implied, cannot stop at the text of the law.

Mahmoud Samy, head of the parliamentary bloc of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, also voiced preliminary approval, calling the amendments “logical” and aligned with the state’s orientation toward supporting a free economy and strengthening regulated market mechanisms.

MP Mohamed Suleiman, chair of the Planning and Budget Committee, emphasized the importance of the settlement procedures—whether before a case is filed, during proceedings, or even after a final ruling. “These amendments directly contribute to creating an attractive investment climate and improving the business environment,” he said, placing procedural flexibility at the center of economic reform.

From another bench, MP Mohamed Abdullah Zein El-Din, deputy chair of the Suggestions and Complaints Committee, described the amendments as “a message of reassurance to investors and a strong boost to the business climate.” He acknowledged that they came “in response to practical obstacles—or, we could say, bureaucratic hurdles—that had been affecting commercial activity.” The word “bureaucracy” slipped in almost casually, but it seemed to capture a shared frustration.

Outside the chamber, the same tone prevailed.

Emad Qenawy, head of the Importers Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, used nearly identical language in remarks to Al Manassa. He described the amendments as “an important step” toward organizing the import system and monitoring the gap between exports and imports in a way that strengthens the trade balance.

For Qenawy, the amendments respond directly to private sector demands for a stable and secure investment climate.

He pointed in particular to provisions allowing capital and insurance payments in foreign currencies and enabling amendments to company data without requiring cancellation of registration. These, he said, “represent significant facilitations for importers and contribute to creating a more flexible and transparent business environment.”

Perhaps most significant for importers is the abolition of custodial penalties for financial violations and their replacement with financial fines. Qenawy described this as the most welcomed element of the amendments, noting that it would “allow violations to be settled smoothly and reduce legal risks for companies.”

Mostafa El-Mekawy, secretary of the General Importers Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, struck a similarly pragmatic tone. The division, he told Al Manassa, had submitted its proposals to the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, seeking to balance market regulation with the protection of importers’ interests.

In practice, he explained, payment of registration fees—whether in Egyptian pounds or foreign currency—is already possible, either through cash payment of the insurance amount or by submitting a letter of guarantee to the General Organization for Export and Import Control. The insurance amount varies according to capital: 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about $1,600) for individuals and 200,000 pounds (about $6,500) for companies.

The division does not object to payment in foreign currency, he added, though it prefers payment in Egyptian pounds to avoid complications linked to exchange rates—a reminder that behind legislative language lie everyday calculations shaped by currency volatility.

He added that dealing in freely convertible currencies regulated by the Central Bank does not pose a problem, as long as the currency has an official counterpart within the banking system.

Among the division’s core demands was the abolition of prison sentences for financial violations, limiting penalties to appropriate or doubled financial fines. Custodial sanctions, El-Mekawy argued, do not fit the nature of commercial offenses.

On the question of a registrant’s death, the division proposed granting heirs a grace period of up to one year or a year and a half to regularize their status. This allows them to retain the company’s accumulated experience while amending the commercial and importers’ registers in accordance with the law.

Any amendment to the commercial register, he noted, must now be reported within 60 to 90 days—a modest extension from the previous 60-day deadline, but one that signals an effort to accommodate business realities.

By the session’s end, the contours of agreement were clear. The amendments are presented as a tightening of the system, but also as a softening of its edges: regulation paired with facilitation, control coupled with reassurance.

Whether this balance will hold beyond the chamber’s walls is another question, one that will likely surface again when Parliament reconvenes in March.