: 
An Overview of the Egyptian Legal System
and Legal Research
By Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab
See the Update!
Dr. Mohamed S. E. Abdel Wahab, Licence
en Droit (CAI), LL.M (CAI), Ph.D (MAN), MCI Arb. is an Assistant Professor
at Faculty of Law, Cairo University, Egypt and Assistant Director of the Human
Rights Centre at Cairo University. He has taught on the LL.M, LL.B, and BA
programs at Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan Universities, England. Dr.
Abdel Wahab is currently a Fellow of the Centre for Information Technology and
Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. He was appointed vice-president of the
Cairo branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 2005. He also works
as a Legal Advisor in the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial
Arbitration, as a Counselor for International Legal Affairs to the Information
Technology Industry Development Agency, as a legal counsel in a number of
international commercial arbitration disputes, and acts as a sole arbitrator
and co-arbitrator in a number of cases. He works with the United Nations Expert
Group on Online Dispute Resolution, and is affiliated with the Computer Crime
Research Centre, Ukraine.
Dr.
Abdel Wahab holds over thirty five prizes for academic achievement, and has
published several articles in learned international journals and is a regular
speaker in national and international conferences on Globalization,
International Commercial Arbitration, Private International Law, ADR and Online
Dispute Resolution, E-commerce and IT Law. Dr. Abdel Wahab is also a member of several professional and
legal organizations including the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Society
of Legal Scholars, Socio-Legal Studies Association, Association of Internet
Researchers, the Internet Society, the International Law Association, the
British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and the Egyptian
Anti-Cyber Crime Association. His expertise lies in the field of: Private
International Law, International Commercial Arbitration (especially in
information technology and construction disputes), Online Dispute Resolution,
Data Protection, E-Commerce and IT Law.
Published October 2006
Table of Contents
The
Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt) lies in the northeastern part of Africa. Whilst
most of the country lies in Africa, the eastern most part, the Sinai Peninsula,
is considered part of Asia and is the only land bridge between the two
continents. Egypt is divided into
two unequal parts by the Nile River, and its terrain is mostly desert except
for the Valley and Delta of the Nile, the most extensive oasis on earth and one
of the main centers of habitation in Egypt. Whilst Cairo is the largest city
and the capital of Egypt, Alexandria remains the principal port of Egypt on the
Mediterranean and the second biggest city.
With
an area of more than one million square kilometers (1001450 sq km), Egypt prides
itself in having extensive borders: to the west is Libya, to the south is
Sudan, to the northeast are Israel and the Gaza strip, to the north is
Mediterranean Sea, and to the east is the Red Sea.
Egypt
is the sixteenth most populous country in the world with a population of 78.8
million people (2006); not surprisingly most of the population is concentrated
near the banks of the Nile River which amounts to about 40,000 sq km, leaving
about 961450 sq km uninhabited. This is due to the fact that the land near the
banks of the Nile is only arable agricultural land in Egypt. However, there are
ongoing efforts of urban development and populating the desert in order to
reduce the heavy concentration of the population along the Nile.
Egypt actually has been a coherent political entity since
3200 B.C. and one of the first civilizations to develop irrigated agriculture,
urban life, and large scale political structures.
On
the muddy banks of the Nile, the oldest political and administrative systems
were established when Egypt’s first central state was established. These
systems have gone a long way and are now used in the institutions and modern
administrative systems as well as the formulas of constitution, parliament,
responsible government and judicial authority since the 19th
century. At the present time, Egypt is making history again by creating a new
phase of economic development and reform, ascertaining political and democratic
authority and practices, enhancing freedoms and adhering to the rule of law,
and respecting human rights.
The Egyptian legal system is built on the
combination of Islamic (Shariah) law
and Napoleonic Code, which was first introduced during Napoleon Bonaparte’s
occupation of Egypt and the subsequent education and training of Egyptian jurists
in France.
The
Egyptian legal system, being considered as a civil law system, is based upon a
well-established system of codified laws.
Egypt’s supreme law is its written constitution. With respect to
transactions between natural persons or legal entities, the most important
legislation is the Egyptian Civil Code of 1948 (the “ECC”) which remains the main source of legal rules applicable to
contracts. Much of the ECC is based upon the French Civil Code and, to a lesser
extent, upon various other European codes and upon Islamic (Shariah) law
(especially in the context of personal status).
Despite
the non-existence of an established system of legally (de jure) binding
precedents, previous judicial decisions do have persuasive authority. Courts
are morally and practically bound (de facto binding effect) by the
principles and precedents of the Court of Cassation (for civil, commercial, and
criminal matters) and the Supreme Administrative Court (for administrative and
other public law matters).
It
is worth noting that the classical dichotomy of public and private law has
resulted in the crystallization of a separate set of legal rules applicable to
transactions involving the State (or any of its institutions, subsidiaries, or
state-owned enterprises) acting as a sovereign power. This entailed the
establishment of the Egyptian Council of State (Conseil d'Etat), which
are administrative courts vested with the power to decide over administrative
disputes pertaining to administrative contracts and administrative decrees
issued by government officials. These courts apply administrative legal rules,
which are not entirely codified, and hence the scope of judicial discretion, in
so far as no applicable legislative rule exists, is ample in light of the
established precedents laid by the supreme courts.
The
President of Egypt is the Head of the State, and he is also, under the Egyptian
Constitution,
the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Head of the Executive Authority (the
Egyptian Cabinet).
Requirements to Hold Office
Under
the system created by the 1980 constitutional amendments, the President, being
the head of the Executive Authority, names the Prime Minister, who chooses the
Ministers and manages the day-to-day affairs including the economy.
As
the chief executive body of Egypt, the Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister
and the cabinet ministers. In addition to its management of the daily affairs
and setting strategies for development and reform in all areas, it has a role
in shaping the agenda of the houses of Parliament by proposing Laws to
Parliament, as well as amendments during parliamentary meetings; it may also
make use of procedures to speed up parliamentary deliberations.
Articles
(135) and (156) of the Constitution
clearly define the legal capacity of the Cabinet
as follows:
Traditionally,
the Cabinet comprises:
Ministry
of Justice
Ministry of Tourism
Ministry of Health and
PopulationThe
Parliament of Egypt is geographically located in Cairo. As the legislative authority,
it has the power to enact laws, approve general policy of the State, the
general plan for economic and social development and the general budget of the
State, supervise the work of the government, ratify international conventions, and
the power to vote to impeach the President of the Republic or replace the
government and its Prime Minister in a vote of no-confidence.
The
Parliament is a bicameral legislature which means it has two chambers or
legislative houses. The present-day Constitution
states the Parliaments two chambers be the following:
Every
year, the Parliament meet for one nine-month session, but under special conditions
the President may call another session. It is argued that the Parliament’s
powers have increased since 1980’s Amendments of the Constitution.
The
People’s Assembly under the new Constitution
was founded in 1971 as a result of the adoption of the new Constitution.
It is considered to be the lower house of the two, though it has a greater
number of deputies, 454 deputies to be precise, 444 of them are directly
elected, while the remaining ten are appointed by the President. Farmers and
Workers make up half of the assembly since the Constitution
invokes that there be many seats open for them, one per each two seat
constituency. The Assembly sits for a five years term but can be dissolved
earlier by the President.
Competences
of the People’s Assembly are as
follows:
Legislation
It
is the main competence of the Assembly; it includes the right of the President
or any Parliamentarian to propose draft laws which are then imputed to an ad
hoc committee (an informal committee) of the Assembly to be examined and
reported thereon.
The
convocation, the formal gathering, of the People’s
Assembly is valid only when majority of the members attend. Once the
majority has been achieved, then the voting process begins on article by
article of draft laws, and whatever the majority has voted on, then the
decision is made.
The
President’s power is demonstrated again, by his promulgate and/or objection to
some laws. He can send back the draft law if he disagrees with it, even if it
was approved by the People’s Assembly.
He has a time period of thirty days to return the draft law after he informs
the House.
In
such a case in which the draft law is not returned in the assigned time, it is
endorsed as a law and promulgated. But if it is returned within the time period,
then the People’s Assembly may
endorse it for the second time by a majority vote of two-thirds. In that case, it
is also considered a law and promulgated.
In
some exceptional cases the Constitution
gives the President the right to issue decisions or decrees which have the
force of law, but it also needs authorization from the People’s Assembly.
On
a different note, legislations (statutes) constitute the main source of legal
rules. Codified statutory rules rank below the Constitution
and international conventions. However, they rank higher than executive
regulations, decrees, internal regulations, custom, and general principles of
law. According to the 1980 amendment of the Constitution,
Islamic Law (Sharia) became the principal source of legislative rules.[1]
Such wording simply implies that any new law that is being enacted or
considered for enactment should not be in contravention of any prevailing
principles of Islamic Law (Sharia). Nevertheless, whilst all statutes
regulating personal status issues (such as inheritance, marriage, divorce,
alimony etc…) are derived from Islamic norms, penal law rules as codified in
the Penal Code are entirely western non-religious oriented rules. It is argued
that the 1980 amendment operates with respect to post 1980 legislations and
does not have a retroactive effect. Accordingly, any legal rules, which are inconsistent
with general principles of Islamic Law (Sharia), that have been enacted
prior to 1980 remain in full force and effect (such as penal law rules), unless
abolished or replaced by new laws.
It
is worth noting that Egypt has enacted a number of new statutes to respond to
contemporary standards of global economic and business reform including:
Investment Law, Anti-Money Laundering Law, Intellectual Property Rights Law,
Competition Law, Consumer Protection Law, Electronic Signatures Law, Banking Law,
Taxation Law etc.[2]
Approval of Plan and Budget
The
People’s Assembly has one of the most
important capacities in the State, which is to approve of the General State
budget, as the Constitution
specifically states that the general plan of economic and social development
should be approved by the People’s
Assembly, moreover, the law specifies that it also plans the drafting and
presentation of the General State Budget.
Drafting
the Budget is a serious matter and must be presented to the Assembly at least
two months prior to the beginning of the fiscal year and voted upon. The
process of voting on the budget is taken on bracket by bracket, and once it
gets majority approval, it becomes official.
The
approval of the People’s Assembly is
crucial before any monetary transaction may occur.
The
final account of the State Budget should be presented to the People’s Assembly to be voted on chapter
by chapter, then issued by law.
On
a different note, with respect to taxation, the Constitution
states taxes or duties may not be levied, charged, amended or abrogated except
by virtue of a statute. Accordingly, individuals or legal entities are not
obliged to pay any taxes or duties except those provided under the law.
Monitoring
The
Constitution
upholds the concept of separation of powers; hence balances the powers of the
three main authorities (Executive, Parliament, and the Judiciary). Within this
scheme, the Parliament monitors the actions of Executive Authority through many
mechanisms and instruments, and in order to fulfill such monitoring role,
members of the People’s Assembly
enjoy parliamentary immunity.
The
President of the Republic is vulnerable to criminal accusation and by the People’s Assembly upon proposition by at
least one third of Assembly members. The same percentage may issue the
indictment bill.
Moreover,
each and every member of the People’s
Assembly have the right to question and cross-examine the Prime Minister or
one of his Deputies in any matter within their competence (this right is
enshrined in the Constitution),
and they must answer the questions of the members.
The
Constitution
also stresses that ministers shall be accountable before the People’s Assembly for the State Policy.
Just like any ordinary person, each minister shall be held accountable for his
actions that are stated in his portfolio. Thus, ministers could be subject to a
vote of confidence, which could result in their dismissal or disqualification.
Though
the People’s Assembly cannot disqualify
the Prime Minister, they can dismiss or disqualify a deputy of the Prime
Minister, a Minister, or a Deputy Minister. However, this motion cannot be
presented expect after a cross-examination and upon recommendation of at least
ten Assembly members.
It
is necessary for the People’s Assembly
to have specialized factions studying and drawing up issues looked into by the
Assembly or the issues related to the Assembly. These factions are seven in
number and are as follows:
There
are 18 specialized committees of the People’s
Assembly helping exercise its legislative and monitoring duties:
The
Arabic word ‘shura’ means consultation; in English it is roughly
translated as “The Consultative Council”. Other than being a Consultative
Council, it is also the Upper house of Egyptian Parliament and is composed of
264 members, 174 of which are directly elected and 88 appointed by the
President of Republic and maybe replaced at his discretion. The Shura’s legislative power is fairly
limited in comparison to the People’s
Assembly, and usually in debates on certain matters the People’s Assembly has the upper hand and
the prevailing view.
In
accordance with the Law, any candidate wishing to be elected to the Shura Council should meet the following
conditions:
The
Shura Council member is elected by the
absolute majority of valid votes cast in the elections.
The
term membership of the Shura Council is
six years. However, renewed election and appointment of 50% of the total number
of members is required every three years, and it is always possible to re-elect
or re-appoint those members whose membership has expired.
The
Constitution
has provided many guarantees whereby the Council is able to carry out its tasks
and activities.
The
most prominent are:
As
previously stated, pursuant to Article (1) of Law No.120 of the Year 1980 as
amended by Laws No.10 of the Year 1989 and 8 of the Year 1995, the Shura Council must be made up of 264
members, two thirds of the council is elected by a direct ballot, and half of
the Council must be farmers or workers, the remaining third (88) is appointed
by the President of the Republic.
As
explained earlier, the powers of the Shura
Council are not as extensive or effective as the People’s Assembly, its jurisdiction as
provided by Articles (194) and (195) of the Constitution
covers the studying and proposing of what is deemed necessary to preserve the
principles of the July 23rd, 1952 revolution and the May 15th,
1971 Corrective Revolution. These principles are to consolidate national unity
and social peace, to protect the Alliance of the people’s working force and
socialist gains as well as the basic constituents of the society, its supreme
values, its rights, public freedoms and duties, and strengthening the scope of
the democratic system.
Article
(195) of the Constitution
provides for the Council to be consulted on the following:
As
the third and independent authority of the State, the Egyptian Judiciary is
comprised of secular and religious courts, administrative, non-administrative
courts and a Supreme Constitutional Court, and penal courts, civil and
commercial courts, personal status and family courts, national security courts,
labour courts, military courts, as well as other specialized courts or
circuits.
The Egyptian Court system is composed of a number of
tiers: Courts of First Instance, Court of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation at
the apex of the judiciary. The classical dichotomy of public and private law
has resulted in the establishment of the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat),
which are administrative courts vested with the power to decide over
administrative disputes pertaining to administrative contracts and
administrative decrees issued by government officials and ministries. The
Supreme Constitutional Court was established in 1969 and has exclusive
jurisdiction to decide questions regarding the constitutionality of laws and
regulations as well as negative and positive conflict of jurisdiction.
Generally,
the Egyptian judicial system is based on French legal concepts and methods.
Judges are familiar with civil law systems’ concepts, and despite the huge case
backlog and time-consuming proceedings, the principles of the due process and
judicial review are inherently cherished and respected. Accessibility to
justice is an indispensable principle of the Egyptian legal system. Judges are
generally independent from the State and enjoy judicial immunity; hence they
cannot be dismissed or sacked by the Executive Authority. However, due to the
huge amount of cases before the courts, there exists a heavy case backlog,
which adversely affects the efficiency of the court system and the judiciary as
a whole. Apart from the heavy case backlog which might cause some delay and
inconvenience, judges are competent, able, and impartial, which ensures
equality of the parties and justice. Furthermore, fees to administer judicial
proceedings are not very high, and judicial aid through appointing lawyers as
representatives for those who are unable to appoint a lawyer is generally
available.
The
Supreme Constitutional Court is an independent body in the Arab Republic of
Egypt. It is currently located in the Cairo suburb of Maadi.
The
Court is undeniably the highest judicial power in Egypt. By virtue Article (25)
of the Supreme Constitutional Court’s Law No.48 of the Year 1979, this Court is
empowered to:
· Determine the
constitutionality of the laws and regulations.
· Decide on jurisdiction
disputes between judicial bodies or authorities of judicial competence.
· Decide on the disputes
that might take place as a result of enforcing two final contradictory rulings
issued by two different judicial entities.
· Interpret the laws
issued by the Legislative Authority and the decrees issued by the Head of the
State in case of any divergence with respect to their implementation.
In
1931, the Court of Cassation was established to create a central tool to
provide exclusive and uniform interpretation and application of the law. The
court of Cassation is at the apex of the judicial hierarchy in Egypt and is
based in Cairo.
The
Court of Cassation’s jurisdiction simply includes consideration of challenges
brought to it by either adversary or by public prosecution; it also includes
the examination of lawsuits that arose from a judge’s action. When such a
dilemma occurs, the courts assume the role as a court of merit rather a court
of law.
Another
function of the court is to give rulings on requests of reparations for all
violated verdicts. The Court issues annual collections on approved judicial
principles in the title “Rulings and Principles of the Court of Cassation”.
There
exist around seven Courts of Appeal in Egypt in major cities. These are second
degree courts that review the awards of the courts of first instance. Their
review covers questions of fact as well as questions of law. Judges of
sufficient experience and seniority sit as judges in the Courts of Appeal.
Appeals
from rulings rendered by the Courts of First Instance should be made within
specific time frames, otherwise an appeal will be rejected, as such time-limits
are mandatory.
Judgments
rendered by a Court of Appeal are only open to challenge before the Court of
Cassation, and usually on points of law or lack or inconsistency of reasoning.
The
Courts of First Instance are first degree courts, which have the ability to
consider lawsuits filed before them only if they fall under their jurisdiction
and their rulings are, generally, subject to appeal.
Judges
sitting in Courts of First Instance are relatively young and rank below the
judges of the Courts of Appeal and the Court of Cassation in terms of
experience and seniority.
This
court was founded in 2004 to provide a specialized judicial tool for family
disputes. This court aims at providing psychological peace and comfort for the
children caught in the middle of disputes relating to tutelage, divorce,
alimony and custody. Such court also aims at sustaining an amicable settlement
for family problems through specialized and professional guidance agencies.
The
Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority is an Egyptian judicial institution that was
established in 1874, nine years before the Egyptian national courts were
established in 1883.
Despite
being legally stigmatized as an independent judicial institution, the Authority
does not perform a truly judicial function; its role is confined to
representing the State before national and international courts and arbitral
tribunals.
The
law states that the Egyptian Lawsuits Authority has the power to plead on
behalf of the State. When it comes to the organizational structure of the
Egyptian Lawsuits Authority it is divided into seven parts each capable to represent
the state in the areas of its jurisdiction. Each department is headed by a vice
president and only the Department of Foreign Disputes is headed by the
President.
The
Public Prosecution has two major functions, which are: (a) to file criminal
actions when acting as public prosecutors before a criminal court; and (b) the
right to initiate actions even if the plaintiff has relinquished his right to
do so.
Public
prosecutors investigate crimes, visit crimes’ scenes, question the accused,
issue search warrants, order the imprisonment of the accused on the account of
a crime for a period of fifteen days prior to trial or prosecution.
Moreover,
joining the public prosecution is the path to becoming a judge in the Court of
First Instance, the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation. Nevertheless,
some members of the Public Prosecution remain within the latter and get
promoted to District Attorneys, Attorney Generals, and potentially qualify for
the post of the Head of the Public Prosecution.
As previously mentioned, any administrative
disputes in which any administrative body is party is a matter handled by the
Administrative Courts and falls under its jurisdiction.
Administrative Courts do have a separate structure,
where the Supreme Administrative Court sits at the apex of such structure.
There are also departments for opinions and legislation which advises public
entities on diverse aspects of public law such as administrative contracts,
tenders, ministerial decrees etc.
In any governmental authority or agency there
exists an in-house member of the State Council (in addition to a department for
legal affairs) whose opinion should be sought with respect to any
administrative law matter.
With
respect to jurisdiction, it is necessary to distinguish between national
jurisdiction in pure domestic cases and international jurisdiction regarding
disputes involving a foreign element. A brief overview of both seems to be in
order.
National
or domestic jurisdiction is shared between two main judicial bodies:
(a)
General courts; and (b) Administrative courts (State Council).
Whilst courts of general jurisdiction
are concerned with the settlement of civil, criminal, commercial and personal
status matters, administrative courts are concerned with the settlement of
administrative or public law matters governed by the jus imperii.
The
criteria for establishing general jurisdiction could be based on the value of
the dispute, nature of the dispute, or territorial jurisdiction of the court.
With respect to the
value of the dispute, general jurisdiction is divided between:
(1) Trial
courts: dealing with disputes of
not more than L.E. 10,000 (ten thousand Egyptian pounds).
(2) Higher
courts (such as the Court of First Instance): dealing with disputes of not less
than L.E. 10,000 (ten thousand Egyptian pounds).
With
respect to territorial competence, courts of general jurisdiction are divided
according to cities and suburbs. For example, there are Giza courts, Cairo
courts, Alexandria courts, Mansoura courts, etc… within each city there might
be a number of courts such as North Giza Court of First Instance and South Giza
Court of First Instance.
As
for the Court of Appeals, there is one in Cairo, one in Alexandria, one in
Tanta, one in Ismaileya, one in Suez, one in Mansoura, and one in Kena.
As
for the Court of Cassation there is only one in whole country and it is located
in Cairo.
With
respect to international jurisdiction, Egyptian courts assume jurisdiction
regarding international commercial disputes involving a foreign element on the
basis of any of the following criteria:
(a)
Cases in which the defendant is Egyptian unless the dispute pertains to
immovables located in a foreign State; (b) Cases in which the defendant,
despite being a foreign national, is either domiciled or resident in Egypt
unless the dispute pertains to immovables located in a foreign State; (c) Cases
involving property (movables or immovables) located in Egypt even though the
defendant is a foreign national who is not domiciled or resident in Egypt; (d)
Cases pertaining to an obligation created, performed, or should have been
performed in Egypt; (e) Cases pertinent to a bankruptcy or insolvency declared
in Egypt; (f) Cases in which the defendant voluntarily submits to the
jurisdiction of Egyptian courts (full effect to the principle of party
autonomy); (g) Claims, counterclaims, defences, incidental questions, other
issues which are closely connected to cases filed before Egyptian courts; (h)
Cases involving interim and provisional measures to be executed in Egypt.
The
above-mentioned principles represent the diverse criteria for establishing
jurisdiction of Egyptian courts both on national and international levels.
With
respect to the effect of choice of law and exclusive jurisdiction clauses in
international contracts, it should be noted that Egyptian law, like most legal
systems, upholds the principle of party autonomy to maximum possible extent.
Thus, parties to a contract are free to agree on an applicable law and
exclusive jurisdiction and their agreement will be upheld by courts in so far
as their agreement does not violate public policy considerations or fundamental
mandatory norms.
Parallel
to court litigation, arbitration has established itself as a prominent method
for resolving business, commercial, and investment disputes. A new Arbitration
Law No.27 of the Year 1994 was enacted and it governs both domestic and
international arbitration. Courts are increasingly mitigating any form of
hostility towards arbitration as an out-of-court dispute resolution system.
Judges have generally accepted and supported arbitral proceedings and an
arbitral award, by virtue of the new Arbitration Law, is never reviewed on the
merits.
Thus,
if the parties to a contract agree on an arbitration clause or agreement in
disputes capable of settlement by arbitration (the criteria for arbitrability
under Egyptian Law being the possibility of settlement) Egyptian courts will
decline jurisdiction to review the subject matter of the dispute. However, an
arbitral award rendered may only be subject to nullity proceedings in Egypt if:
(a) the Seat of Arbitration is in Egypt or (b) the parties have agreed, if the Seat
is in a different State, that the law applicable to the proceedings is the
Egyptian Arbitration Law No.27/1994. Such nullity action, may be brought for a
number of exclusive grounds; mainly procedural.
With
respect to enforcement of judgments and awards, as a general rule, enforcement
is possible when an award is final, which is the case for awards rendered by
the court of Appeal or final arbitral awards. However, judgments and awards
rendered by the Court of First Instance may be enforceable by depositing a
security.
Enforcement
of the judgment may entail seizure of property or assets as follows: (a)
conservatory seizure over movables or immovable (this is an interim or
provisional measure of protection that may be ordered by the court to protect
the interest of creditors); (b) seizure with a view to sell the seized property
or assets (applicable to both movable and immovable); and (c) garnishment
effected under the hands of third parties and seizure of employment wages.
However, pursuant to Egyptian law, certain rights, assets or property may not
be seized such as: industrial property rights, supplementary rights in rem
such as mortgages and concessions etc…, rights of servitude, current accounts,
funds or assets needed for public utilities, saving funds, and investment
certificates.
On
a different note, creditors may also induce voluntary enforcement of judgment
by threatening to institute bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings against the
debtor. Judgments rendered by the Court of First Instance are subject to appeal
by the losing or respondent party, and judgments rendered by the Court of
Appeal are equally subject to challenge before the Court of Cassation, whose
review of the judgment does not hinder or impede enforcement per se.
With
respect to the right of appeal, the party who lost his case before the Court of
First Instance is entitled to appeal the judgment before the Court of Appeal,
provided that the prescribed period of appeal is observed, which is usually 40
days as a general principle, unless a specific provision indicates otherwise.
With
respect to recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, Egyptian courts
will generally recognize and enforce foreign judgments if the following
conditions are satisfied: (a) Egyptian courts do not have jurisdiction over the
dispute, and the foreign court which rendered the judgment enjoy jurisdiction
pursuant to its rules on international jurisdiction; (b) the parties have been
notified of the proceedings and validly represented before the competent court;
(c) the judgment or award is final and binding pursuant to the rules prevailing
under the law of the foreign court; and (d) the foreign judgment is not in
conflict with a prior award or judgment rendered by Egyptian courts and is not
in contravention of the prevailing public policy considerations.
If
the foreign award or judgment satisfies the above-mentioned conditions, a
request for enforcement is submitted to the court whose jurisdiction
encompasses the place of enforcement. Such request is submitted in accordance
with the general rules for filing cases, and the competent Egyptian court will
then render its exequatur without reviewing the foreign judgment on its
merits.
The
prescription period with respect to enforcement requests and actual enforcement
is 15 years in accordance with the general rules on prescription under the
Civil Code.
With
respect to enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, a request for enforcement
should be submitted to the competent court, which, in the case of international
commercial arbitration, is the Court of Appeal. The request should be
accompanied by the original text of the award or a signed copy thereof, a copy
of the arbitration agreement, and an Arabic translation of the award ratified
by an authorized entity if the award is rendered in a foreign language, and a
copy of the minutes verifying submission of the award in the registry of the
competent court.
Furthermore,
a request for enforcement of an arbitral award will not be accepted unless the
period for filing a nullity action has lapsed in cases where a nullity action
is possible.[3]
The
conditions for enforcement of arbitral awards are more relaxed than those of
foreign judgments due to the impact of the New York Convention on the
Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958) to which Egypt is
a signatory, and the provisions of the Egyptian Arbitration Law No.27/1994. The
conditions of enforcement are: (a) the inexistence of a prior Egyptian award on
the same issue; (b) absence of any contravention to Egyptian public policy
considerations; and (c) valid notification of the arbitral award.
At
the stage of recognition or enforcement, arbitral awards, like foreign
judgments, are not reviewed on their merits.
Egyptian Codes (Statutes) are
published in Arabic in the Official Gazette
(a special journal dedicated for publishing Statutes only) available in Arabic
in book format. Prime Minister's and Minister's Decrees are published in the
Egyptian Gazette, which is available in Arabic in book format. However, an
electronic version of all such statutes, decrees, and regulations should be
available in Arabic on the Tashreaat website.
LADIS
or Tashreaat publishes all laws,
decrees, etc. This is in addition to court rulings, some legal articles
mainly in Arabic but there are some materials in English. Tashreaat
also has specialized pages for human rights, IPRs, Constitutions of Arab
countries. They offer legal opinions on diverse aspects of law, and they
publish a monthly legal bulletin. (Generally it is a good website to subscribe
to).
Unlike common law countries we do not have
dedicated periodicals or reports where cases and court judgments are
published. Moreover, not all court rulings are published. However, the
Court of Cassation Judgments, State Council Judgments, and
Constitutional Court Judgments are published in book format in what we call
"Collection of Awards". These are organized in chronological
order by Judicial Years. Nowadays soft copies of such rulings are
available on CDs and some databases such as Tashreaat. However, databases
are not entirely complete, so a manual search through the "Collection
of Awards" is still important.
It is worth noting that the Constitutional Court does have a
website available in Arabic, English and French, where you can view some useful
information, documents and even search for Awards rendered by the Court.
Egypt’s information portal, the Information and
Decision Support Center for the Cabinet (IDSC), provides information on a wide
variety of things. The website
provides studies, reports, laws, statistics, working papers, statistics, and
periodicals (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually). This is
available free of charge. However,
not all information is available in English. This website is not dedicated to
legal information; it provides economic, scientific, industrial,
commercial, social, historical, geographical, political information. It also
offers interactive services.
The Middle East Library for Economic Services
is
the website of the Middle East Library.
The website of the Legal Arab Information Network
is another example of a subscription-based database that contains information
on Arab laws, agreements, cases, researches etc.
Egypt,
according to its Constitution,
has a multiparty system, however in recent years the ruling and prevalent party
is the National Democratic Party. However, opposition parties do exist but are
not, hitherto, as strong or powerful as the former.
Law
No.40 of the Year 1977 regulates the formation of political parties in Egypt;
the main objective of this Law is to prohibit the formation of religious-based
political parties to maintain a secular political environment. In recent years,
there has been growing political pressure and trends towards the formation of
new parties that could effectively contribute to the socio-political agenda of
Egypt.
Egypt
is divided into 27 governorates (muhafazah), sorted by the transliterated
Arabic name:
Most
governorates have a population density of more than 1000 per km².
·
Cairo University
·
Ain Shams University
·
Alexandria University
·
El Mansoura University
·
Zaqaziq University
·
El Menoufia University
·
El Miniya University
·
Benha University
·
South Valley University
·
Helwan University
·
Tanta University
·
Assiut University
·
Suez Canal University
·
Beni Suef University
[1] Prior to the 1980 amendment, Islamic Law (Sharia) was merely a source, amongst other sources, for legislative rules.
[2] An up-to-date comprehensive information on Laws and Regulations pertinent to economic, commercial, and business activities in Egypt could be found at: (1) The Egyptian Investment Portal (Economic Laws), (2) The Egyptian Investment Portal (other Laws and Regulations) where over 40 statutes could be downloaded or viewed online, and (3) The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt has a very comprehensive website that provides up-to-date information on doing business in Egypt with useful information on all relevant statutes.
[3] That period is 90 days calculated from the date of notifying the award to the losing party.