Company registers in Egypt: the commercial register and GAFI incorporation

The commercial register law

WIPO Lex, the legal database of the World Intellectual Property Organization, holds the Arabic text titled qanun raqm 34 li-sanat 1976 bi-sha'n al-sijill al-tijari (Law No. 34 of 1976 on the commercial register) ¹. It lists the law as issued on 1 May 1976, published on 6 May 1976 and in force from 1 August 1976 ¹. The version WIPO holds is consolidated with amendments up to Law No. 98 of 1996, dated 30 June 1996 ¹. WIPO Lex records amendments only up to that date ¹. This page could not confirm from an official Egyptian source whether the law has been amended since 1996, so the WIPO Lex text may be out of date. Readers should check the Official Gazette for later changes.

Who forms companies: GAFI and the investor service centre

GAFI describes its one-stop shop as a system of services that covers the investor's path from company incorporation to post-incorporation services ³. It says it runs integrated e-services for company incorporation through digital platforms ³.

GAFI's investor service centre guide describes two routes ⁴. At the centre, the applicant takes a queue number, has documents checked, meets the incorporation lawyer, pays fees, signs documents and receives the company's documents ⁴. Through the e-portal, the applicant creates an account, pays by credit card, signs electronically and receives the documents in an online workspace ⁴. The guide gives the investor service centre hotline as 16035 ⁴.

Electronic incorporation since 2023

GAFI states that it launched its Company e-Incorporation Service in September 2023 through a dedicated digital portal ². In the first phase, incorporation of sole proprietorships, limited and general partnerships and limited liability companies under Investment Law No. 72 of 2017 is conducted exclusively online ².

• Register or create an account on the GAFI e-services portal ²
• Select the legal form and review requirements, documents, fees and timeline ²
• Enter company data, upload documents, submit and track the application ²
• Pay all incorporation fees in one credit card transaction ²
• Sign the articles and memorandum of association electronically ²
• Sign the notarization record issued by the Real Estate Registration Office electronically ²
• GAFI completes the remaining steps and delivers final documents through the investor service centre or Egypt Post ²

Fees listed in the investor service centre guide

GAFI's investor service centre guide, issued by the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation, sets out fees in Egyptian pounds for companies under Law No. 72 of 2017 and under the older Companies Law No. 159 of 1981 ⁴. The guide shows no publication date, so the amounts below are those printed in the guide and may have changed ⁴.

Commercial register extracts and later changes

The guide states that many post-incorporation procedures require a recent official copy of the commercial register, no more than three months old ⁴. It lists service times for later changes. Minutes of an extraordinary general meeting with no amendments take one business day after a complete file is received ⁴. A change of legal form for an LLC takes two business days and a company conversion takes three business days ⁴. Capital changes need a share issuance certificate addressed to the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) ⁴.

The guide's foreword states that an investor can complete procedures through the GAFI e-portal within a maximum of 24 business hours ⁴.

Personal data in company records

Egypt has a personal data protection law, Law No. 151 of 2020. Its official text could not be opened from an Egyptian government source for this page, so its provisions are not summarised here.