The Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, issued decision number 256 for 2018, to adjust some articles of the executive regulation in the Corporations Law. The new adjustments include stock companies, companies limited by shares, limited liability companies, as well as the one-person companies, according to a Monday statement from the ministry of investment and international cooperation (MIIC). The statement explained that article no 203 of the Corporations Law will be replaced by a new paragraph stating that "Companies will have to publish their general assembly's meeting invitation twice in a couple of daily newspapers, with at least one reported in Arabic, with the second invitation published at least five days after the first notice." The decision also replaced article no 281 with a new paragraph stating, "Managers of the companies should enjoy the conditions illustrated in article 89 of the Law," noted the statement, explaining, “Article 89 of the Corporations Law mentioned that stock companies' board members should not be sentenced to a criminal penalty or a misdemeanour penalty for theft, betrayal of trust, fraud, defamation, or for penalties provided in articles 162,163,164 of this Law.” For her part, Nasr said that the new adjustments of the Corporations' Law integrate with the past adjustments which the ministry announced early in 2018 regarding the Law. This will help eliminate the restrictions which face companies in Egypt, and align with the global developments which guarantee a decent investment climate for companies. The new adjustments will contribute towards improving Egypt's ranking in the international reports which assess Egypt's business climate, affirmed Nasr, adding that the ministry is committed on continuing its regulative reforms. The minister confirmed that the amendment of the first paragraph of Article 203 of the executive regulations of the Corporations' Law by deleting the phrase “The notice of inviting shareholders to their fixed addresses by companies' registrars through ordinary mail,” will be published twice in newspapers instead to ensure companies convene for the general assembly. “This amendment represents a qualitative procedural leap to facilitate the procedures for the companies, I think this will boost Egypt's doing business ranking, besides integrating with the open market policy, through giving companies more freedom to choose the managers, even if they are not Egyptians,” said Nasr. Earlier in November, Egypt jumped eight places in the World Bank's 2019 ‘Doing Business' Report up to the 120th position.
