Parliament's main concern over the last year has been to protect the Egyptian economy from the fallout of 11 September. The fallout from the 11 September terrorist attacks dominated Egypt's economic policy concerns in the first half of 2002. Out of 31 laws passed by the People's Assembly in its previous session (2001/2002), at least 10 were aimed at countering the negative impact of these attacks on the national economy. Topping the list was the passing, last May, of Egypt's first law against money laundering. The 20-article law gave the government sweeping powers to track and freeze funds and assets and to report suspect financial transactions to foreign countries and financial agencies. The government hurried this law through primarily due to post-11 September pressure from the FATF (the Financial Action Task Force set up by the G7 Group of industrialised nations to monitor global money laundering operations). Justice Minister Farouk Seif El-Nasr said that, "Egypt was put on a blacklist prepared by the FATF in June 2001, and it was important for us to have a separate anti-money laundering law to be removed from the list, making our country more attractive to foreign investments." The government is still involved in efforts to implement the anti- money laundering legislation as Egypt is still on the FATF's blacklist. In terms of economic liberalisation, parliament passed a new law aimed at revamping chambers of commerce. The law, an amendment to Law 189 of 1951, gives chambers wider roles in the market economy to help them develop relations with local and international commercial organisations. It also gives the chambers the right to own land, invest money, and establish social and healthcare funds. More significantly, it gives women the right to be elected to chamber boards. Parliament also passed Egypt's first comprehensive intellectual property rights law in May, a legislative milestone in the country's path to modernisation and economic growth. The 199-article law's stated aim is to keep Egypt abreast of the world's technological developments and its membership commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The People's Assembly concluded its second parliamentary session in June by passing three controversial laws. The first was the eight-article Export Promotion Law which gives the external trade minister sweeping powers to issue decrees on export promotion. The law, in general, is aimed at overcoming bureaucratic obstacles that stand in the way of export promotion. The second was the six-article Emergency Compensations Law, aimed at giving financial security to workers whose enterprises were facing the risk of closure. The third was the 61-article Special Economic Zones law, aimed at attracting foreign investments to special zones around the Suez Canal and Rosetta in Northern Egypt. The People's Assembly began its third session in November by debating two landmark laws; the Unified Labour law and the Telecommunications bill. The first, a 259- article law, is targeted at regulating relations between employers and workers in a market economy. The second, a 92-article bill, aims to modernise the telecommunications sector by putting it on a fast track towards privatisation. By Gamal Essam El-Din
