Egypt's parliament – the House of Representatives – is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting on Monday to discuss a host of new economic and financial laws. Parliament's secretary-general Mahmoud Fawzi told reporters on Saturday that Monday's meeting is expected to be the last before the House adjourns for summer recess.
"But if parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal finds that a one-day meeting is not enough to discuss all the draft laws on the schedule of debate, he might decide to hold another meeting on another day," Fawzi said.
The schedule of debate includes five draft laws and 12 international agreements to be discussed for the first time. The draft legislations comprise a new 90-article Unified Tax Measures Law.
The draft law's explanatory note states that the bill aims to facilitate collection of taxes and promote the country's financial revenues to push economic development forward.
The note said the facilitation of the collection of taxes will come through unifying four laws into one law – the Unified Tax Law.
These are the income tax law (91/2005), the Value Added Tax law (67/2016), the State's Financial Resources Development Tax law (147/1984) and the Stamp Tax law (111/1980).
Parliament will also discuss a new Customs Law. The law was discussed by parliament last week, but two articles are still on the table and have to be discussed and passed tomorrow.
The list also includes draft laws on establishing the Fund of Supporting, Financing, Managing and Building Educational Projects (seven articles); regulating the State Prize for Young Innovators (10 articles); and Burying Water Pools and Quagmires to protect public health (two articles).
Parliament is also expected to take a final vote on 13 laws that were discussed in previous meetings.
These include legislations on regulating care for patients suffering from psychological troubles; expropriating private property for public use; regulating the activities of microfinance projects; amending the construction law (119/2008); modifying the commercial register law (34/1970); and the law on regulating medical clinical researches.
Other laws dealing include regulating the Egyptian Waqf (religious endowments) Authority; establishing the Fund for Supporting Physically Challenged Persons; regulating the Egyptian Iftaa (fatwa) House; regulating the law on Waste Management; amending the Electricity Law (87/2015), and the law on establishing the Catholic and Anglican Church Waqf Authority.
The list also includes a law on licensing the two ministers of petroleum and housing to contract the Egyptian Mining Company for utilising salt lakes and quarries.
