New public shops law goes into effect

This week, the new public shops law went into effect across all Egypt by the Ministry of Local Development. The law aims to abolish outdates practices and lit modern regulations and requirements for registering public shops.

The law allows shops to issue licenses in a maximum of 90 days, and if all the requirements are met, the license can be issued within 1 month only. The goal is for the formal economy to be inclusive of different activities, and for public shops to operate within a healthy legal framework that guarantees public safety.

For shops that are part of buildings that are in violation, they can now obtain annual licenses, renewed for 5 years, awaiting the violation to be resolved or reconciled.

In a TV interview over the phone, Mr. Mohamed Al-Fayoumi, the spokesperson of the committee for public shops stated that there are more than 330 licensing centers covering different governorates and neighborhoods all across Egypt, that can issue licenses for all different types of publish shops.

The law also includes harsher penalties for unlicensed operations, with a fine reaching EGP 50,000 and prison sentences.