Finally, the General Authority for Free Zone and Investment ("GAFI") issued today a new regulation under No. 160, whereby the General Shareholders Meetings in Egyptian Joint Stock Companies and Limited Liability Companies may be convened by circulation using Electronic means (e.g. conference calls) (the "New Regulation").

The New Regulation is effective as of March 18, 2020.

The New Regulation is applied to all types of companies that are incorporated in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Law No. 159 of 1981 and the Investment Law No. 72 of 2017.

It is worth noting an invitation is required to be sent to shareholders and all the relevant parties including the new mean of convening the meeting without prejudice to the legal timeframe during which the invitation shall be circulated. For any General Shareholders Meeting for which an invitation was already sent, it is possible to amend this invitation to have the possibility of holding this General Shareholders Meeting through any electronic means.

We would like to highlight that GAFI's Board of Directors issued a resolution under No. 42 of 2020 that also extended today the deadline for submitting the audited Financial Statements for the Financial Year ended on December 31, 2019 to April 30, 2020 instead of March 31, 2020 and for the Financial Year that will be ended on March 31, 2020 to June 15, 2020.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.