Cabinet approves investment environment bylaw

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Thursday approved the bylaw regulating the investment environment for 2023, in implementation of the provisions of the Investment Environment Law No. 21 of 2022, which entered into force on January 14, 2023.

The bylaw merges 18 systems into one broader system that shows the procedures and for submitting applications to avail of the comprehensive investment service.

The necessary requirements and duties of employees, commissioners and the official authorities they represent are also determined under the bylaw, including a mandatory two-day notification period to inform investors on the status of their applications.

The bylaw stipulates that the official authorities respond within 15 working days from the date of submitting a completed application. In the event of non-response, the transaction will be granted automatic approval, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The bylaw also identified restrictions on foreign economic activity, stipulating that less than 50 per cent of ventures be of non-Jordanian ownership, and placed further restrictions on foreign ownership and partnerships. 

The bylaw also includes a mechanism that allows the Council of Ministers to ease restrictions for justified reasons.

The bylaw also set a clear and transparent mechanism for obtaining exemptions under the Investment Environment Law.

Under the bylaw, ventures must have at least 250 Jordanian workers. However, exceptions were created in this regard for the education, IT, entrepreneurship and innovation, art and media production and filmmaking sectors, in implementation of the Royal Vision for Economic Modernisation.