There is no specific law governing e-commerce in Egypt. However, Egypt has several e-commerce-friendly laws and regulations, such as the E-Signature Law, the Investment Law, the Consumer Protection Law and the Governmental Contracts Law.

For example, e-commerce business activities are covered by the Investment Law, which provides a number of guarantees and incentives for companies that carry out these activities, subject to the satisfaction of specific criteria. These include the following:

• the grant of residence permits to foreign investors for the duration of their investment projects in Egypt;
• an exemption from stamp duty and notarisation fees for articles of incorporation, facilities and loan agreements, security documents and/or agreements for the purchase of plots of land for five years, starting from the date of registration with the Commercial Registry;
• the application of a unified customs duty at a flat rate of 2% of the value of all equipment, machinery and devices needed to establish the investment project; and
• a reduced tax rate, calculated on the basis of a specific formula, for seven years, starting from the date of commencement of the investment project in Egypt.

In general, according to the Electronic Signature Law and its Executive Regulation, e-correspondence, e-signatures and e-documents have the same degree of authenticity as non-electronic correspondence, signatures and documents under the Evidence Law (25/1968), provided that it is technically possible to determine the time, date and source of their creation.

In this regard, the Information Technology Development Agency licensed a number of e-signature providers to confirm the satisfaction of these technical requirements. If one of these e-signature providers confirms that a company satisfies the technical requirements, all e-correspondence, e-signatures and e-documents issued by that company will have the same degree of authenticity as non-electronic correspondence, signatures and documents.

The Economic Court has rendered a number of judgments based on e-correspondence, e-signatures and e-documents that do not satisfy the technical requirements.

The latest Consumer Protection Law, which was issued in 2018, for the first time in Egypt recognises e-commerce transactions by including a definition of the term ‘distance contract’, which refers to any transaction involving the offer for sale, sale or purchase of products using the Internet or any other visual, audible, printed or telephonic medium. Distance contracts must comply with all provisions of the Consumer Protection Law, unless otherwise stated therein.

The Consumer Protection Law also grants consumers the right to amend or correct any order made through a distance contract, starting from the date of accepting such order unless otherwise agreed between the parties. It is worth noting the new draft Banking Law explicitly exclude CBE as well as any entity that is subject to its supervision from the application of the Egyptian Consumer Protection (181/2018) and the Egyptian Antitrust Law (3/2005)

(b) Mobile (m-commerce)

M-commerce is generally subject to the same laws and regulations governing e-commerce. However, a specific regulation governing mobile payments was issued by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in November 2016, setting out the minimum requirements that banks must meet to authorise mobile payments. These relate, among other things, to:

• risk management;
• supervision;
• customers’ security;
• mobile cash;
• partnerships with service providers;
• interoperability;
• authentication;
• confidentiality; and
• licensing.

The Mobile Payment Regulation does not apply to mobile banking, which is governed separately.

Each bank can issue mobile cash in an amount of up to 5% of its paid-in capital or EGP 50 million (approximately $3,164,580.95), whichever is lower.

Mobile cash may only be issued in Egyptian pounds, and not in any other currency.

Local mobile cash transactions within Egypt are allowed within specific daily and monthly thresholds established by the CBE. However, these thresholds may be exceeded where a positive know-your-customer and authentication process is followed.

The Mobile Payment Regulation also allows the receipt of mobile cash transfers from abroad, subject to the satisfaction of several conditions. Among other things, such transfers must be converted into Egyptian pounds and are limited to natural persons.

(c) Big data (mining)

Unfortunately, there is as yet no special regulation of big data. However, this is part of the CBE’s ongoing strategy, so the situation may change in the future.

(d) Cloud computing

Cloud computing is subject to the Cybercrime Law, which applies to any party that directly or indirectly provides users with IT or telecommunications service, including data processing or storage. Such providers must retain and store users’ data for at least 180 days, including the following:

• identification data;
• the content of the service provider’s system;
• communication traffic;
• terminal data; and
• any other data required by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

According to the Media Law, a licence from the Supreme Council for Media Regulation is required before launching a website in Egypt in any of the following cases:

• The website will be founded in Egypt;
• The website will be managed by a party in Egypt; or
• Any of the website’s subdomains will be managed by a party in Egypt.

(e) Artificial intelligence

Unfortunately, as yet there is no special regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).

However, in 2019 the minister of higher education began to add special AI departments to several engineering universities in Egypt.

(f) Distributed ledger technology (Blockchain, cryptocurrencies)

Unfortunately, as yet there is no regulation of blockchain or cryptocurrencies.

The new draft Banking Law includes a chapter regulating fintech, which for the first time would allow for the possibility to issue cryptocurrencies in Egypt.