Key laws on registers, gazettes and records in North Africa

1. 12 August 1913In force

   Morocco: Dahir sur l'immatriculation foncière (dahir on land registration)

   Set up the titre foncier system. Registration purges earlier rights and the title becomes the sole starting point of real rights ¹.

2. 1 May 1976In force

   Egypt: Qanun raqm 34 li-sanat 1976 bi-sha'n al-sijill al-tijari (Law No. 34 of 1976 on the commercial register)

   Issued on 1 May 1976, published on 6 May 1976 and in force from 1 August 1976, per WIPO Lex ². Later amendments may exist that the WIPO Lex text does not show.

3. 30 June 1996Historical

   Egypt: Law No. 98 of 1996 amends the commercial register law

   WIPO Lex lists its consolidated version of Law No. 34 of 1976 as amended up to Law No. 98 of 1996 ².

4. 24 October 2000In force

   Tunisia: Décret n° 2000-2446 (decree 2000-2446)

   Set the conditions for collecting contributions to the cost of compulsory land registration operations ³.

5. 10 April 2001In force

   Tunisia: Loi n° 2001-34 portant mise à jour des titres fonciers (law on updating land titles)

   Made the Tribunal Immobilier the sole court for updating land titles, through a chamber for frozen titles and a land book judge ⁴.

6. 17 April 2001In force

   Tunisia: Loi n° 2001-35 modifiant certains articles du code des droits réels (law amending the real rights code)

   Defined the tasks of the Conservation de la Propriété Foncière and gave each title an identifier made of a serial number and governorate name ⁵.

7. 14 August 2004In force

   Algeria: Loi n° 04-08 relative aux conditions d'exercice des activités commerciales (law on the conditions for carrying on commercial activities)

   Made trade register entry a condition of commercial activity and let any interested person obtain register information from the CNRC. Published in Journal Officiel n° 52 of 18 August 2004 ⁶.

8. 22 November 2011In force

   Morocco: Dahir 1-11-177 promulgating law 14-07

   Amended the 1913 land registration dahir. Published in Bulletin Officiel n° 6004 of 15 December 2011 ¹.

9. 6 November 2014In force

   Morocco: Law 57-12 completing the land registration dahir

   Published in Bulletin Officiel n° 6306 of 6 November 2014 ¹.

10. 24 March 2016In force

    Tunisia: Al-qanun al-asasi adad 22 li-sanat 2016 (organic law 22 of 2016 on the right of access to information)

    Created the Instance d'Accès à l'Information as an independent public authority ¹⁰.

11. 2 March 2017In force

    Tunisia: CTAF decision n° 2017-03 on beneficial owners

    Required reporting entities to verify beneficial owners, including for one-off transactions of 10,000 dinars or more ¹¹.

12. 31 May 2017In force

    Egypt: Investment Law No. 72 of 2017

    Issued on 31 May 2017, according to GAFI's investor service centre guide, and governs most incorporation procedures ¹³.

13. 18 July 2017Historical

    Tunisia: INAI council elected

    Parliament elected the members of the council of the access to information authority ¹⁰.

14. 22 February 2018In force

    Morocco: Loi n° 31-13 relative au droit d'accès à l'information (law 31-13 on the right of access to information)

    Promulgated by dahir 1-18-15. Set a 20 working day answer deadline and created the Commission du droit d'accès à l'information. Arabic text in Bulletin Officiel n° 6655 of 12 March 2018 ¹².

15. 10 June 2018In force

    Algeria: Loi n° 18-06 amending the code of criminal procedure

    Rewrote the criminal record rules. Bulletin n° 3 goes only to the person concerned and can be issued electronically. Published in Journal Officiel n° 34 ⁷.

16. 10 June 2018In force

    Algeria: Loi n° 18-07 relative à la protection des personnes physiques dans le traitement des données à caractère personnel (law on personal data protection)

    Created an independent national authority for personal data protection placed with the President of the Republic ⁷.

17. 10 June 2018In force

    Algeria: Loi n° 18-08 amending law 04-08

    Set up an electronic company creation portal run by the CNRC, with a single form and a common identifier. Published in Journal Officiel n° 35 of 13 June 2018 ⁸.

18. 29 October 2018In force

    Tunisia: Loi n° 2018-52 relative au registre national des entreprises (law on the national register of enterprises)

    Created the Registre National des Entreprises. The OECD Global Forum reports that it replaced law 1995-44 ^9,15.

19. 21 January 2019In force

    Tunisia: Décret gouvernemental n° 2019-54 on beneficial owners

    Set a 20 percent capital or voting rights threshold for beneficial owners. A decree of the same date set rules for name reservation certificates valid six months ⁹.

20. 17 April 2019In force

    Morocco: Dahir 1-19-76 promulgating law 21-18 on sûretés mobilières (security interests in movable property)

    French translation published with implementing decree 2-19-327 in Bulletin Officiel n° 6840 of 19 December 2019 ¹⁶.

21. 6 April 2020Official finding

    OECD Global Forum rates Tunisia Largely Compliant

    The second round peer review rated Tunisia Largely Compliant overall and reported that 38 percent of older entities had updated beneficial owner data in the RNE ¹⁵.

22. September 2023In force

    Egypt: GAFI Company e-Incorporation Service

    Sole proprietorships, partnerships and LLCs under Law No. 72 of 2017 are now incorporated only online ¹⁴.

23. 24 November 2025In force

    Mauritania: Digital portal of the Journal Officiel launched

    The ministry in charge of the General Secretariat of the Government announced the launch of the portal ¹⁷.

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