{"id":644908,"date":"2017-07-06T04:24:27","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T04:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/07\/06\/house-passes-natural-gas-act-mineral-resources-act\/"},"modified":"2017-07-06T04:24:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T04:24:27","slug":"house-passes-natural-gas-act-mineral-resources-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2017\/07\/06\/house-passes-natural-gas-act-mineral-resources-act\/","title":{"rendered":"House passes Natural Gas Act, Mineral Resources Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> The House of Representatives has finally approved the long-awaited <\/strong>Natural Gas Act<\/strong><\/a> without any amendments, Al Shorouk reports<\/a>. The 53-article legislation would deregulate the natural gas market and leave the state to play the role of regulator.<\/strong> The law \u2014 which will allow the private sector to trade gas using the state\u2019s infrastructure and pipeline network and establish a new authority to regulate and monitor the market \u2014 had been gathering dust since 2015, with a number of companies already having applied to import natural gas and had been waiting on the law. This should be welcome news for everybody.<\/p>\n

MPs also signed off on the new Mineral Resources Act<\/strong>, according to Ahram Gate<\/a>. Under the new act, we should be seeing reduced fees and royalties on quarries and mines, unified license procedures and fees, reducing the time it takes to obtain permits for mining in Sinai, according to earlier reports<\/a>. Very little by way of detail on the law has emerged.<\/p>\n

The House also approved <\/strong>amendments to the Police Act<\/strong><\/a> that reduce the minimum age of joining the force to 19 from 23 years currently and make it easier for women to join. Additionally, MPs also sanctioned a number of <\/strong>international agreements<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> including:<\/p>\n