G/LIC/Q/EGY/1  
 
5 April  2018 
(18-2088) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Import Licensing  Original: English  
 
IMPORT LICENSING SYSTEM OF EGYPT  
QUESTIONS FROM THE E UROPEAN UNION TO EGYPT  
The following communication, dated 27 March 2018 , is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the European Union.  
 
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The EU regrets that Egypt has never submitted any notification of its import licensing procedures 
and would strongly encourage Egypt to comply with its notification's requirements.  
 
In the lack of any notifications and c onsidering the increasing number of concerns of the EU 
traders on the import licensing procedures applied by Egypt, the EU would like to ask Egypt to 
clarify the aspects listed below.  
 
According to the recent TPR, Egypt maintains import prohibitions and re strictions for economic, 
environmental, health, religious, safety, sanitary, and phytosanitary reasons. The procedures for 
importing into the free zones are governed by Law No. 72/2017 promulgating the Investment Law. 
In certain cases, additional certifica tes may be required by the customs authorities, including: 
control and security authorities' approval; a maritime delivery order, except for pre -arrival 
processing; or a certificate of origin when requesting customs duty exemption or preferential 
treatment .  
 
EU question No 1 : Could Egypt provide detailed information on the import licensing procedures in 
place, submitting detailed information as per Article 5 of the Import Licensing Agreement (ILA)? To 
be recalled that Article 5.2 of the ILA requires that:  
 
2.   Notifications of the institution of import licensing procedures shall include the following 
information:  
(a) list of products subject to licensing procedures;  
  
(b)    contact point for information on eligibility;  
  
(c)    administrative body(ies) for submission of applications;  
  
(d)    date and name of publication where licensing procedures are published;  
 
(e)    indication of whether the licensing procedure is automatic or non -automatic according 
to definitions contained in Articles  2 and  3; 
  
(f)    in the case of automatic import licensing procedures, their administrative purpose;  
 
(g)    in the case of non -automatic import licensing procedures, indication of the measure 
being implemented through the licensing procedure; and  
 
(h)    expected dur ation of the licensing procedure if this can be estimated with some 
probability, and if not, reason why this information cannot be provided.  
 G/LIC/Q/EGY/1  
 
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  EU question No 2 : Could Egypt clarify which is the applied law governing the import licensing 
procedures?  Should traders refer only to the Import and Export Law No 118/1975 and the 
Ministerial Decree No 770/2005 and Ministerial Decree No 902/2015? Or are there any other 
relevant pieces of legislation?  
 
EU question No 3 : Could Egypt submit all relevant information justifying the import prohibitions 
applied to chicken offal and limbs 32, fowl livers, and various hazardous chemicals and pesticides, 
he two -stroke motor bicycle engines, toys in the form of pistols or rifles, bracelets listed as 
organizing body energy, a nd some incandescent bulbs and laser pens?  
 
EU question No 4 : Could Egypt submit all relevant information regarding the import licensing 
procedures for the importation of some agricultural commodities including wheat grains, corn used 
for the feed industry , and soya bean seeds for oil extraction? Could Egypt clarify whether the legal 
basis is the Prime Minister Decree No. 2992/2016 and Ministerial Decree No. 24/2017? Could 
Egypt clarify why the importation of these goods are allowed only upon approval from GOEIC?  
 
EU question No 5 : Could Egypt provide detailed information on the procedures to be followed for 
importing into the free zones, submitting detailed information as per Article 5.2 of the Import 
Licensing Agreement?  
 
EU question No 6 : As additional certificates may be requested by the customs authorities, could 
Egypt clarify what are the additional certificates needed for the importation of each type of 
product?  
 
Mandatory registration requirement of company prior to the importation s et up by the 
Decree 43/2016  
 
The EU would also like to receive further clarifications with reference to the mandatory registration 
requirement set by Decree No 43/2016 entered into force on 16 March 2016. It sets the 
mandatory registration of companies in order to create a registry of factories exporting certain 
products (agricultural products, cosmetics, toys, textiles and garments) to Egypt. Among the 
documents required for the registration, the Decree includes a certificate that the producer  and/or 
the trademark owner maintain "a quality control system." All the documents to be provided have 
to be certified by a Chamber of Commerce, approved by an Egyptian embassy and translated by 
an accredited translation center.  
 
EU question No 7 : Could Egypt clarify h ow these requirements are in compliance with the 
provisions of the ILA, in particular with reference to articles 1, 2 and 3?   
 
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