| Free Zone Investment |
 |
The Free Zone is a part of the national Territory of Egypt, but it is
considered outside customs boundaries, imports, monetary and duties issues of
the country. This imparts much more freedom on transactions and exchanges,
aimed at increasing economic growth and attracting foreign direct
investment.
Types of Free Zones:
Private Free Zones
Any investment activity in Egypt can be practiced inside a private free zone
confined to only one project (or an integrated complex) if the project's nature
requires its existence in a private free zone or unavailability of suitable
areas in the general free zones or the probability of polluting the neighboring
projects (undertaking the removal of all causes of pollution) The investor can
get the location by himself and afford the costs of the representatives;
customs; and security fees.
Public Free Zones
The state has established 10 Free Zones equipped with facilities and
infrastructure. For each zone, there is a board of directors which provides the
project with all important facilities, services, and also the annexed lands
with suitable areas.
Initially Free Zones were established to achieve the following objectives:
- improve the nation's exports.
- attract foreign capital.
- introduce advanced technology to the industrial sector of the nation.
- provide labor opportunities.
1.Privileges and Guarantees available to investors in
Free Zones
Advantages
- Freedom of transferring the invested capital and profits of the project
abroad.
- Freedom of choosing the investment field and the legal formula of the
projects.
- Freedom of pricing the products and profit margin.
- Non-existence of lower or higher limits for the invested capital.
- Non-existence of limits on the capital nationality so that any investor can
invest or participate with a percentage in the investment.
- Freedom of working for or to others credit in order to exploit the project
energies and support the background links with the market.
- Freedom of importing from the local market with some simplified procedures.
- Treat the local exports to the free zones equally with exports coming from
abroad.
Guarantees and exemptions
- A legal action against the projects in terms of the breaches of the
customs, finance, and tax laws without a reference to the authority may not be
taken.
- The nationalization or confiscation of the projects and establishments may
not be applied.
- Custody on the projects or distress or capturing or desertion,
solidification or confiscating may not applied administratively but legally.
- Exempting all capital assets and production requisites necessary for
practicing the project (except for vehicles) from any customs - duties or taxes
on sales or other kinds of taxes during the project activity even if the nature
of the activity necessitates their temporary existence outside the free zone.
- Exempting the imports and exports of the project to and from the country
from any sales taxes or any other kinds of taxes or duties applied in the
country.
- Non-submission of the project and its profits to any taxes or customs laws
applied in the country during practicing the project activity.o Non-submission
of the imports and exports of the projects to any normal customs procedures or
exporting rules applied in the country.
- Exempting the imports of the project from the local market from any sale
taxes.
- Exempting the specifically -directed transit goods from any duties
chargeable on the entering and exiting goods.
- Exempting all the local components of the products. Produced in the free
zones projects from any customs duties in the case of their selling to the
local market (inside the country).
- Exempting contracts, loans from the tax stamp registration fees for 5
years.
- Exempting the private free zone's land registration fees from the tax
stamp.
Public free zones in Egypt:
Fully equipped with infrastructure
- Alexandria
(El-Amreya).
- Damietta
- Ismailia.
- Media Production City.
- Nasr City.
- Port Said.
- Port Tawfik and Adabbia
(Suez).
Operating and still further developments
- East of Port Said.
- Shibin El-koum.
- Keft.
Projects converted to private free zone
status:
GAFI may approve changing the status of an inland project to private free zone
status if the project:
- Is in operation.
- Committed to export not less than 50% of the annual production.
- Fulfillment of all the conditions of buildings, fences, security determined
by the free zones regulations.
- Fences shall around the zone as a whole and not less than 3 meters high.
- Only one gate for the project and perhaps another one, which shall remain,
closed and be used in emergencies.
- Several suitable rooms shall be equipped with facilities for.
- The representative of the general authority for frees zones &
investment that shall be resident in the project.
- The representative of the customs authority affiliated to the ministry of
finance and resident in the project.
- Special security rooms shall be equipped and prepared.
- In the case of the non-existence of fences, all the windows shall be
provided with grills made of iron & nets.
New activities in Egyptian Free Zones:
has allowed new activities that can be carried out by Free Zone projects such
as:
- Providing infrastructure and utilities for free zones.
- Management, operating, development and marketing of free zones.
- Development and management of seaports and airports.
- Liquefying natural gas.
- Cultivating the reclaimed land.
investment.gov.eg
|
back
|