VZCZCXRO3502
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2067 1861020
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051020Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5978
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS CAIRO 002067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR WATERS AND DAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EG
SUBJECT: LOOMING REVISIONS TO NGO LAW 
 
 
¶1. (U) Recent press reports predict that Egypt's NGO Law (Law 
84) and related provisions of Egyptian civil law are likely 
to be revised, with the new legislation reportedly to be 
debated and passed in the next parliamentary session. 
Embassy and USAID contacts also anticipate changes to 
NGO-related legislation will be on the parliamentary agenda 
in November, when both houses of parliament, now out of 
session, reconvene. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The expected changes to the NGO Law and related 
civil law provisions (sections 505-537 of Egyptian civil 
code) may include closing a legal loop-hole that currently 
allows NGO's to operate as "civil companies."  Due to the 
restrictive nature of laws governing civil society 
organizations, especially the lengthy and often onerous 
process of becoming officially registered as an NGO, many 
Egyptian activists have opted to establish de facto NGO's 
that are not registered as such, but rather are licensed as 
not-for-profit civil companies or "branch offices" of 
regional organizations (even though for all intents and 
purposes, the organizations are Egyptian).  Most Egyptian 
NGO's not registered under Law 84 are legally operating as 
not-for-profit civil companies.  Such civil companies first 
appeared on the Egyptian scene in 1994; currently, we 
estimate that out of the fifty active Egyptian human rights 
NGO's, fifteen are registered as civil companies.  Embassy 
and USAID contacts indicate that the GOE will likely amend 
the civil law to eliminate the civil company and branch 
office options, and tighten legal provisions to mandate that 
all NGO's register as NGO's. 
 
¶3. (SBU) If the GOE amends the relevant legislation in this 
way, USAID Cairo estimates that 25% of its civil society 
grants will be affected.  Nine of USAID's current civil 
society grantees are civil companies, including the Ibn 
Khaldun Center (run by the don of Egyptian civil society, 
Saad Eddin Ibrahim), the United Group, and the Arab Penal 
Reform Organization.  As noted above, the changes to the 
relevant laws will not come before parliament until 
mid-November, and may indeed fall farther back on the 
legislative calendar.  Depending on how they are drafted, and 
when they take effect, the legal changes may affect FY 2008 
USAID direct grants to local NGO's.  The brewing legal 
revisions will likely enhance GOE control over Egyptian civil 
society, and bode badly for the operations of several key 
Egyptian NGO's, including the Ibn Khaldun Center. 
RICCIARDONE