Originally from Attachment of Assets

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The major Egyptian laws that deal with this subject are: (1) Law No. 13 of 1968, as amended, promulgating the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law; (2) Law No. 308 of 1955, as amended, on administrative attachment that deals with administrative attachment; and (3) the Intellectual Property Law covering Copyright, Trademark, and Patent, all amalgamated in the Law No. 82 of 2002 and (4) the Movable Guarantees Law No. 115 of 2015 (the “Movable Guarantees Law”). It shall be noted that the said Law was issued on November 14, 2015 and its Executive Regulations was issued on December 15, 2016 by virtue of Decree No. 108 of 2016 issued by the Ministry of Investment.

Moreover, the abovementioned laws provide for both provisional and final enforcement attachment measures where the civil procedure measures in the Civil Procedures Law are used. However, for government and sovereign debts the administrative procedures measures are used. The concept of attaching of assets or rights or dues under the hands of a third party (the garnishee) is a well-established concept and is widely used against amounts due to a debtor (in a bank account) or (with an owner if the debtor is a contractor).

As a general note, it is worth noting that the Movable Guarantees Law regulates and provides the rules and conditions for the creation of security interests over movable assets, which are defined as the existing or future tangible movable assets and the existing intangible assets owned by the debtor or the security provider, and provided as a guarantee for an obligation, debt, loan or facility. In this respect, movable assets include, among other things, due or deferred debts, credits accounts including deposit and current accounts and all types of intellectual property rights (e.g. patents, copyrights, trademarks and other IPR).