Proposed Investment Act comes under fire during House committee hearing: Abla Abdel Latif, head of the President’s Economic Development Council, and Egyptian Competition Authority chief Mona El Garf leveled criticism at the Investment Act in testimony before the House Economic Committee yesterday, Al Shorouk reports. Abdel Latif said the bill alone is not enough to promote investment and needs a bundle of complementary legislation, including the Industrial Permits Act, to be issued in tandem. Meanwhile, El Garf is reported to have said that the draft of the act is too lengthy and diverges from the one approved by the Council of State (Maglis Al Dawla). According to El Garf, the sheer volume of clauses in the bill makes it difficult for investors to understand their rights and obligations. Businessman Amr El Lamei took the discussion back to square one, saying the issues with the original investment law were not made clear, and suggested that the House return the legislation to the Investment Ministry. The House Economic Committee had granted the bill preliminary approval last month. The House as a whole is expected to vote on the bill this month.

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