G/LIC/Q/EGY/8  
 
13 October 2021  
(21-7745) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Import Licensing  Original: English  
 
 
IMPORT LICENSING SYSTEM OF EGYPT  
REPLIES OF EGYPT TO THE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION  
The following submission, dated 7 October 2021, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Egypt.  
 
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Egypt would like to thank the European Union for the additional questions raised in G/LIC/Q/EGY/ 7.  
EU follow -up and additional questions  
EU Question 1: Could Egypt submit the following information on import licensing of 
ducklings and cann ed meat under Prime Minister's Decree No. 2080/2018 and 
Prime  Minister's Decision No.  222/2018:  
(a) Egypt confirmed that the two acts would form part of the regulations to be notified 
to the Import Licensing Committee. Can Egypt provide an indication as to when this 
notification will take place?  
(b) As regards the implementation of the measures, will Egypt increase the frequency 
of the committee meetings? According to Egypt's information, meetings of the 
committees are usually held every thr ee months and/or according to need. 
However, the dates listed for 2020 suggest that both committees met only twice a 
year, which does not coincide with the indicated frequency and is problematic in 
view of the fact that the import licences only have a vali dity of three months.  
(c) Could Egypt make the dates of the meetings available in advance? The lack of a 
predictable agenda affects the import planning and economic certainty of importers.  
(d) Could Egypt introduce an appeal mechanism?  
(e) Could Egypt intr oduce a system of informing companies in writing on the approval 
or rejection of their requests?  
(f) EU companies reported significant delays in granting import permits, which make 
the exports economically not viable due to the high seasonality of the affe cted 
products (e.g., ducklings are usually exported for specific festivities). Moreover, 
certain EU Member States informed us several times that their requests to import 
ducklings had not been approved. Could Egypt share with the EU information on 
duckling s' shipments from the EU that were: (a) approved; (b) not approved; and 
(c) delayed, with indication of the respective dates of these requests and of their 
approvals?  
(g) Egypt stated that one of the criteria used to issue licences was the animal health 
situation of the exporting country. Can Egypt elaborate on this criterion? 
In particular, the EU would be interested to know which animal diseases are 
considered and how the presence or absence of the disease in the exporting country G/LIC/Q/EGY/8  
 
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  affect the decision to issue or not a licence. Are these conditions also part of the 
veterinary certificate requested by Egyptian authorities?  
Reply : 
(a) Egypt recognizes the delay in fulfilling its notification requirements under the Import Licensing 
Agreement. However, Egypt has always welcomed all questions and requests for clarification 
regarding its system with respect to specific products. Egypt plans  to notify the two decrees 
within the context of a complete import licensing notification that is currently being prepared 
in collaboration with the different relevant authorities taking into account the various updates 
in their systems.  
(b) As mentioned,  before the two committees are usually held every three months, (as the validity 
of the import permit is three months) and/or when needed and according to the number of 
import requests submitted to the two committees. There have been no complaints received  
from the importers in this respect.  
(c) Importers are informed about the meeting dates of the committees and the outcomes of their 
requests for import permits through referring back and following up with the Central 
Administration of Veterinary Services, or the office of the Head of the General Organization of 
Veterinary Services  (GOVS), or the office of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land 
Reclamation.  
(d) It is our view that an appeal mechanism is necessary in case of rejection of requests for im port 
permits for unknown reasons. However, as explained before as per the two decrees, requests 
for import permits are not rejected except for reasons related to the epidemiological situation 
of the exporting country or not fulfilling the set requirements including the capacity of the 
refrigerators facilities and capacity of the quarantine areas. The importers can always apply 
for import permits in the following committee.  
(e), (f) and (g): 
The importers are informed of the status of their requests through contacting the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Land Reclamation. However, providing written replies will be considered.  
It would be useful if the EU can share with us bilaterally the specific cases where there has 
been a delay in the issuance of the import pe rmits, in addition to the cases where there has 
been a rejection for reasons that fall outside the scope of the epidemiological situation of the 
exporting country or not fulfilling the set requirements including the capacity of the quarantine 
areas.  
The cr iteria for assessing the epidemiological situation of the exporting country are based on 
the OIE standards and lists of diseases.  
EU Question 2: Could Egypt submit the following information justifying the import 
restrictions applied to sugar under Decree N os. 259/2020, 420/2020, 606/2020 and 
117/2021):  
(a) Egypt justified this measure with the need to regulate its national sugar market. 
Could Egypt present an update on its national sugar market situation today? (in 
particular regarding the temporary surplus  in sugar imports that was mentioned by 
Egypt at the time the measure was first introduced).  
(b) Could Egypt please explain how the "import approval" for raw and white sugar 
imports is implemented and administered in practice? What are the rules and 
proced ures for the submission of applications? To whom (contact point) should the 
applications be submitted and who are the actors in the approval application process 
that review the applications?  
(c) Could Egypt inform the EU where to find information on the me asures and the 
various steps of the application procedure? Is the eligibility of the applicants defined G/LIC/Q/EGY/8  
 
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  and known to economic operators? If not, what are the criteria that importers have 
to fulfil to have their import approved?  
(d) Could Egypt provide info rmation on the deadlines within which the "import 
approvals" are issued?  
(e) Are there any fees charged for the "import approval" or any other formalities 
required?  
(f) Could Egypt please present an overview on how many import approval requests have 
been l odged, how many requests have been granted since the introduction of the 
measures as well as distribution of such licences among applying countries?  
(g) Could Egypt share import statistics ( i.e., value and volume) on imports of 
respectively the raw and whi te sugar for the years 2018 -2020?  
(h) The EU is of the view that the import restrictions violate Article XI of the GATT 1994 
(elimination of quantitative restrictions). Therefore, could Egypt give assurances to 
the EU that the measures will be abolished without delay?  
Reply : 
The Ministerial Decree No. 117 for year 2021 issued 4 March 2021 renewing the requirement for an 
import approval from the Minister of Trade and Industry and the Minister of Supply and Internal 
Trade has not been renewed. Hen ce, imports of sugar no longer require import approvals.  
EU Question 3: Could Egypt submit the following information on seed potato import 
mechanism (SPS notification EGY/119):  
(a) Why has this import mechanism not been notified in accordance with Articles 1.4 
and 5 of the Import Licensing Agreement?  
(b) Can Egypt explain why this new system is deemed necessary? Why does Egypt not 
seem to be ready to trust the inspection and certification by the National Plant 
Protection Organisation of the EU Membe r States carried out in accordance with the 
International Plant Protection Organisation and its relevant international standards 
for phytosanitary measures?  
(c) Could Egypt explain why the date of submission of import applications (with detailed 
informatio n on quantity to be imported, the origin, the varieties, grower numbers, 
the expected date of arrival of the first and last shipment) has been advanced from 
September to April/May? At that time of the year, many of the requested details are 
not yet known s ince the potatoes have only been planted.  
(d) Could Egypt explain how binding the information provided in the import applications 
will be, since much of it will have to be based on estimates (see question above)?  
(e) Could Egypt explain how charging a fix ed amount per ton of seed potatoes to be 
imported in order to finance the field inspections is different from imposing a 
customs duty?  
Reply : 
(a) A notification has not been made in the import licensing committee; yet, Egypt has maintained 
its transparency  obligations by notifying it to the SPS committee given the main objective of 
the mechanism.  
(b) This mechanism is deemed necessary since a number of non –compliance cases of imported 
potatoes due to viral diseases has been detected. In addition, the Centra l Department for 
Plant Quarantine  – Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation has received a lot of G/LIC/Q/EGY/8  
 
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  complaints from Egyptian farmers who suffered severely from the presence of viral diseases 
during the last three years.  
The new mechanism complies with ANNEX 1 entitled "Arrangements for the verification of 
compliance of consignments by the importing member in the exporting country (2017) 
ISPM 20" of the International Plant Protection Convention.  
The main objective is to maintain plant heath and keeping the potatoes plant safe for Egyptian 
farmers and reducing the costs which resulted from the viral diseases and their spread.  
It is also important to point out that the Central Department for Plant Quarantine  - Ministry of 
Agriculture and Land Reclamation c onfirms its full trust in the European Union's  system. 
The EU is the only approved source of seed potatoes to Egypt until now and there is a long 
history of fruitful cooperation between the two sides in this area.  
(c) and (d): 
The Central Department for Pl ant Quarantine  – Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation 
would like to emphasize that the mentioned information is needed to establish an efficient 
agriculture system for planting potatoes all over Egypt based on real data collected from the 
Egyptian importers and before the start of cultivation seasons.  
Furthermore, please note that the required data were already required from the importers 
many years ago and nothing is new at this point except the grower numbers. Regarding the 
grower numbers, the Cen tral Department for Plant Quarantine actually needs the list of 
growers who are interested to export to Egypt regardless the variety and the amount of each 
grower in accordance with point 2 as in Annex 14 regarding Article23 entitled – "Importation 
and Tre atment Regulations for importing potatoes tubers " in the Egyptian Ministerial Decree 
No. 562/2019.  
(e) The Central Department for Plant Quarantine  – Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation 
emphasizes that the fixed amount is not equivalent to any customs duties on imported 
potatoes. The stated fixed amount to be charged are to contribute to financing the costs of 
the inspection committees taking into account that the travel costs of the Egyptian inspection 
committees will be covered by the Egyptian side not by the exporters.  
 
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