Originally from The Practitioner’s Guide to Arbitration in the Middle East and North Africa

PART I

A. Arbitration Laws

1. Please identify by title and date the principal laws and regulations governing (i) domestic and (ii) international arbitration in your State.

Arbitral proceedings in Egypt are governed and regulated by Law No. 27 of 1994 entitled the Law Concerning Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters (the “Law”). Article 1 states that, without prejudice to international conventions, the Law applies to all arbitrations between public or private law persons, whatever the nature of the legal relationship from which the dispute arises, whether such arbitrations are conducted in Egypt or whether the parties to an international commercial arbitration conducted abroad agree to subject the arbitration to the provisions of the Law.

The Law defines an arbitration as international if the subject of the dispute relates to international trade and sets out the various circumstances that make the arbitration international under the Law.

A few examples of the circumstances that make arbitration international under the Law:

1. If the parties to the arbitration agree to resort to a permanent arbitral organisation or to an arbitration centre having its headquarters in Egypt or abroad;

2. If the subject matter of the dispute falling within the scope of the arbitral agreement is linked to more than one State; and

3. If the respective head offices of the parties to the arbitration are situated in two different countries at the time the arbitral agreement is concluded.