There are primarily three laws that govern bankruptcies. These are:

• Trade Law, Egypt No. 17/1999, the provisions of which dictate the principles and processes to follow in relation to bankruptcy;

• Egypt Law No. 120/2009, endowing the recently created economic courts with the exclusive judicial competence to adjudicate bankruptcy cases; and

• the criminal law (found in the Egyptian Criminal Code), which - upon the finding of certain elements such as bad faith or fraud (or both) - allows for the filing of criminal charges against the bankrupt entity, its directors, managers, etc.

Despite the social and economic advantages that derive from the 'rescue' option known as restructuring or reorganisation (as opposed to liquidation), there is presently no restructuring law per se in Egypt. However, such an option remains a possibility before the courts if and when the composition of creditors in a given bankruptcy case accept such a process so as to recover greater value from the financially distressed entity.