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Egypt: Registration mandatory for foreign factories and trademark-owning companies
On the 17th of April 2022, the General Organization for Import and Export Control (GOEIC) announced the suspension of import activities of several companies and factories to Egypt for violating Ministerial Decree no.43 of 2016 (“Old Ministerial Decree”) issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The Old Ministerial Decree sets out the registration conditions of the competent companies and factories to export their product to the Arab Republic of Egypt, it is important to highlight that said registration conditions were amended by the issuance of Ministerial Decree no.195 of 2022 (the “New Ministerial Decree”) on the 31 March 2022.
Prior to the New Ministerial Decree
Under the Old Ministerial Decree, products imported for trading purposes may not be released from customs unless produced by foreign factories registered in Egypt and imported from trademark-owning companies or from registered distribution centers.
The requirements for registration in the register are as follows:
For factories: submit a registration application accompanied with the following supporting documents:
- Certificate of factory’s legal entity and its license;
- Statement of items it produces and their trademarks;
- Products trademark; and Certificate indicating that the trademark-owning company has a quality control system. Said certificate shall be required to be recognized by the International Accreditation Federation (ILAC), International Accreditation Forum (IAF), or any governmental body approved by the competent Minister for Foreign Trade.
For trademark-owning companies: submit a registration application accompanied with the following supporting documents:
- Certificate confirming the registration of trademark and products produced;
- Certificate from company owning the trademark indicating the distribution centres that are allowed to supply products with said trademark; and Certificate indicating that the trademark-owning company has a quality control system. Said certificate shall be required to be recognized by the International Accreditation Federation (ILAC), International Accreditation Forum (IAF), or any governmental body approved by the competent Minister for Foreign Trade.
Source: arabianbusiness
Tags: GOEIC
