Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

Law No. 70 of 2017

Issuing the Law Regulating the Work of Associations and Other Institutions Working in the Field of Civil Society

In the Name of the People President of the Republic

The House of Representatives has decided the following law, which we hereby issue:

(Article One)

Subject to what is stipulated in the regulations of walking associations based on international agreements concluded by the Arab Republic of Egypt, and without prejudice to the provisions of Law No. 91 of 1971, the provisions of the accompanying Law shall apply regarding associations, civil society institutions, and other entities organized under its provisions:

This Law and its accompanying Law regulate the freedom to practice civil society work for associations and those entities, and prohibit any entity from having its legal form or name such that it practices civil society work unless it complies with its provisions and is subject to them.

(Article Two)

All entities practicing civil society work according to the definition stipulated in the accompanying Law, regardless of their name or legal form, must document their status in accordance with its provisions within one year from the date of its implementation; otherwise, the competent court shall order their dissolution.

Their assets shall be transferred to the Fund for Supporting Associations and Civil Society Institutions stipulated in the accompanying Law, and any activity practiced in violation of the provisions of this Article shall be deemed void by operation of law.

The documentation of status shall be done by notifying the competent Ministry or the National Agency for Regulating the Work of Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations established under the provisions of the accompanying Law, as appropriate, of all data of the association, organization, or entity, its activities, funding sources, programs, protocols, memoranda of understanding, and other forms of cooperation, regardless of their name, which it implements in the Arab Republic of Egypt, on the form prepared for that purpose. It must also amend its bylaws to ensure they comply with the provisions of this Law and the accompanying Law.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

(Article Three)

The administrative authority shall, first and foremost, enumerate the entities that have not documented their status in accordance with the provisions of the accompanying Law. The Minister concerned with associations and civil society affairs shall form one or more committees composed of employees of the administrative authority and others, including a representative of the governorate where the entity's headquarters is located within its jurisdiction. These committees shall be responsible for executing and completing the dissolution proceedings after the issuance of a judicial ruling to that effect. The issued decision shall determine their system of work and the duration of their performance of these tasks.

(Article Four)

It is prohibited for any entity or organization to practice civil society work or any activity falling within the purposes of associations and other entities mentioned in the accompanying Law without being subject to its provisions.

It is also prohibited for any entity, except the competent administrative authority according to the provisions of the accompanying Law, to permit or license, in any form and under any name, any civil society work or activity falling within the purposes of associations and other entities mentioned in the accompanying Law. Such permission shall be null and void from its issuance and shall produce no effect.

(Article Five)

Boards of directors of associations, civil society institutions, and unions established in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 84 of 2002, existing at the time of the implementation of the accompanying Law, and their executive and administrative bodies, shall continue to exercise their work until they are reconstituted in accordance with its provisions.

(Article Six)

The Prime Minister shall issue the executive regulations for the accompanying Law within two months from the date of its publication. Until these regulations are issued, the existing executive regulations and decisions shall continue to apply insofar as they do not conflict with its provisions.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

(Article Seven)

Law No. 84 of 2002 on Associations and Civil Society Institutions is repealed, as is every provision that conflicts with the provisions of this Law and the accompanying Law.

(Article Eight)

This Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall be implemented from the day following its publication. This Law shall be sealed with the State seal and enforced as one of its laws. Issued in the year of the Republic on 27 Sha'ban 1438 AH (Corresponding to May 24, 2017 AD) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

Law Regulating the Work of Associations and Other

Institutions Working in the Field of Civil Society

Chapter One - Definitions

Article (1): The following meanings shall apply to the words and phrases used in the application of the provisions of this Law:

• Civil Society Work: Any work that is not aimed at profit and opposes the goal of developing society in one of the fields specified in the bylaws of one of the entities.

• Association: Any group with continuous organization, established in accordance with the provisions of this Law, composed of natural or legal Egyptian persons or both, with a minimum of ten persons, and aimed at practicing civil society work.

• Public Benefit Association: Any association aimed at achieving public benefit upon its establishment or after its establishment, with its activity directed towards serving society. A decision from the Prime Minister shall be issued to add the status of public benefit to it.

• Institution: A legal person established by dedicating one or more natural or legal persons or both, with a minimum of fifty thousand pounds at establishment, to achieve a goal from the goals of civil society work without aiming to obtain profit or any benefit.

• Foreign Non-Governmental Organization: A foreign legal person, not aimed at profit, whose main administrative center is in Egypt or outside it, authorized to practice one or more activities of associations and civil society institutions subject to the provisions of this Law in accordance with the rules stipulated therein.

• Central Association: Any association issued regarding it in accordance with the provisions of this Law a decision by the Minister concerned with associations and civil society affairs or his delegate, including in its bylaws work at the level of the Republic and the establishment of one or more branches in one or more governorates. The executive regulations of this Law shall determine any other criteria that establish the status of centrality. It is not permissible to open new branches for the central association in governorates except with the approval of the competent Minister.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

• Entity: Any entity practicing civil society work, regardless of its legal form or name.

• Regional Union: A union enjoying legal personality established from at least ten associations or civil society institutions or both, regardless of their activity, at the governorate level.

• Specialized Union: A union enjoying legal personality established from at least fifteen members from associations or civil society institutions or both, which practice or claim a specific activity at the level of the Republic.

• General Union: The legal person that includes the heads of boards of directors of regional and specialized unions, responsible for supporting and assisting civil society work, with its headquarters in Cairo Governorate.

• Regional Organization: The Egyptian association or civil society institution that practices its civil society work in the Arab Republic of Egypt and one or more other countries.

• Competent Court: The competent court within whose jurisdiction the administrative center of the association, organization, or entity is located.

• The Agency: The agency established pursuant to Article (7) of this Law to rule on all matters related to the work of foreign non-governmental organizations in Egypt and all forms of their cooperation with government and non-governmental institutions and entities, and the financing related to their work, and other competencies entrusted to it under the provisions of this Law.

• Competent Minister: The Minister concerned with associations and civil society affairs.

• Administrative Authority: The Ministry concerned with associations and civil society affairs.

Chapter Two - Associations

Chapter One - Establishment of Associations

Article (2): The establishment of an association shall be based on a notice submitted to the competent administrative authority on the form determined by it, complete with all required documents as per the following articles. It shall acquire legal personality upon the notice, and every natural or legal person shall have the right to join or withdraw from it in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

A notice shall not be considered effective in producing legal consequences if it does not comply with all the data and documents required according to the form prepared for that purpose.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

Article (3): It is a condition for the establishment of an association that it has a written bylaw that conforms to the model bylaw determined by the executive regulations, signed by all founders, and that it takes its administrative center in the Arab Republic of Egypt as an independent center separate from other associations or other persons, and that it is suitable for practicing its activity.

In all cases, the bylaw of every association must include a clause committing it to respect the Constitution and laws, and not to violate national security, public order, and public morals.

Article (4): It is a condition for a founding member of the association or a member of the board of directors or board of trustees, as appropriate, that he enjoys his civil and political rights, and that no final judgment has been issued against him for a felony or a misdemeanor involving loss of liberty for a crime compromising honor and integrity, unless his reputation has been restored.

Article (5): Non-Egyptians with legal residence in Egypt may be allowed to join the membership of the association or its board of directors to a percentage not exceeding (10%) of the number of members. The administrative authority shall notify the Agency of the names of those wishing to join the association or occupy a seat on its board of directors.

Article (6): With the permission of the Agency, any of the foreign communities may be allowed to establish an association concerned with the affairs of its members in accordance with the provisions of this Law. This law requires that the Egyptian community be treated similarly in the matter of establishing associations in their countries.

Article (7): The bylaw of the association must include the following:

• (a) The address of the headquarters taken as the center for the administration of the association.
• (b) The name of the association, which must be a distinctive name derived from its purpose, not leading to confusion between it and another association or institution that shares with it in its geographical or specialized scope of work.
• (c) The specialized and geographical scope of the association's work and the fields in which it operates.
• (d) The purposes of the association, the nature of its activity, its goals, and the means of achieving them.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

• (e) The name of each member and founder, his title, year of birth, original and acquired nationality, profession, place of residence, national ID number, and email address, if available.
• (f) The resources of the association and the method of utilizing and spending them.
• (g) The bodies representing the association, the competencies of each, the method of selecting their members, and the methods of dismissing them or invalidating their membership, the quorum necessary for the validity of the convening of these bodies and the validity of their decisions, and the means of invitation that ensures the knowledge of its members.
• (h) The rules of membership and its conditions, the rights and obligations of members, and in particular, the right of each member to inspect the documents of the association and his right to attend the General Assembly and vote in it when he meets its conditions.
• (i) Financial and accounting systems and the financial monitoring system.
• (j) Rules for convening ordinary and extraordinary general assemblies, the mechanism of inviting them, the validity of their convening, the place of convening, the quorum of members in each of them in issuing decisions and voting and electing members of the board of directors, its authorities, appointing the auditor, and determining his remuneration.
• (k) Rules for amending the bylaw of the association, forming branches for it, and the circumstances of the dissolution of the association other than in the case of dissolution by judicial ruling, and the entities to which its assets shall be transferred in these circumstances. The bylaw of the association shall not stipulate that its assets upon dissolution shall be transferred to the Fund for Supporting Associations and Civil Society Institutions or to one of the associations and civil society institutions working in the same field of work of the association.
• (l) Determining the person competent to request the association to acquire the status of public benefit.
• An exemplary model bylaw for associations shall be attached to the executive regulations of this Law. Bylaws of associations must comply with it.

---

Official Gazette - Issue No. 20 Repeated (W) on May 24, 2017

Article (8): The administrative authority shall, in coordination and cooperation with concerned authorities, establish a database in which all associations and entities subject to the provisions of this Law, their activities, programs, funding sources, and other necessary matters are recorded. Each association or entity shall have a unique number at the level of the Republic identifying it in that database.

The administrative authority shall also be obliged to record a summary of the association's bylaw in the associations database from the date of notifying it of the intention to establish the association. This notice shall not produce its effect unless it is accompanied by the following documents:

• (a) Four copies of the bylaw of the association signed by all founders.
• (b) Two copies of the internal regulations regulating the financial and administrative affairs of the association and its employees according to the model attached to the executive regulations of this Law.
• (c) Criminal record of each of the founders.
• (d) A list of those chosen for the presidency and membership of the first board of directors from the group of founders.
• (e) An official document authenticated for occupying the headquarters of the association.
• (f) Proof of payment of a fee not exceeding ten thousand pounds for registering the association's bylaw in the register of the administrative authority, the proceeds of which shall be transferred to the Fund for Supporting Associations and Civil Society Institutions, and the competent Minister shall determine who shall receive it for the benefit of the General Union.
• (g) Rules and conditions for volunteering to work in the association, if any, and the rights and obligations of volunteers and their protection.
• (h) Determination of the group of founders in taking establishment procedures.
• (i) The website of the association and its email address, if available.