New regulations should help get new businesses opened faster and easier, Sherine Nasr reports It is not so much the customs duties or taxes that discourage investors. Experts underline confusing and complicated procedures as the main culprit choking new business activity. "The new laws approved are intended to streamline the business environment and make start-up procedures more flexible," said Ziad Bahaa El-Din, head of the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI) in a press conference held last week at GAFI's headquarters in Cairo. During its study of the main obstacles hindering new business projects, GAFI has found that there are at least 485 different licences that need to be issued for different economic activities. "These licences have been identified together with the official bodies issuing them, in order to identify how they can be minimised and their issuing better coordinated," said Bahaa El-Din. Starting this week, the Industrial Licensing Bureau will open and be operational in Alexandria's one-stop shop. This bureau is authorised to issue different types of licences needed to start any type of industrial activity. "Entrepreneurs will no longer have to exert time and effort fruitlessly trying to obtain licences from a dozen different bodies," said Bahaa El-Din who added that the aim is to limit the number of licences needed to the absolute minimum, and to combine different bodies into one entity to save time. The changes include: - Newly established companies are now able to set up their tax accounts within 48 hours at the one-stop shop in GAFI's headquarters. The procedure used to require a week. "The same facility will soon be provided in the rest of the governorates," said Bahaa El-Din. - Tax collection and tax returns can now be made at any of the Egyptian Tax Authority's bureaus across the country. This includes income tax and sales tax. - Registration at the Social Insurance Authority will also be possible in two days, whereas it used to take weeks before. - The official name certificate can be issued immediately. This will be made possible by the computerisation of the commercial register at the one-stop shop in Cairo. - The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will deliver the capital deposit certificates to the financial agent of newly established companies on the spot. The procedure used to take weeks. - Fees for the reduction of a company's capital have been decreased from LE2,700 to LE430. - The minimum capital required to set up a private limited company has been reduced to LE1,000 instead of LE50,000, a procedure which will make it easier for small investors to start their own projects. - Real estate registration fees have been reduced to the minimum, and so have the fees for the dispute settlement committee which have been decreased to LE5,000 instead of LE10,000. Bahaa El-Din explained that it has been crucial for GAFI to work with other official bodies in order to come up with results. These bodies included the CBE, the Social Insurance Authority, and the Industrial Development Authority, in addition to bankers, lawyers, business agents and accountants. A further step in the right direction was taken early last month when the People's Assembly added an article to the Investment Incentives Law 8/1997. The new addition gives the cabinet the right to establish "investment zones" similar to free zones in administration and operation, except for the tax and customs exemptions enjoyed by projects set up in free zones. "A members' board will be formed and authorised to issue licences to private sector companies that are willing to develop in various areas or promote them for investors. These companies will work according to the regulations set up by the members' board," said Bahaa El-Din.
