Egypt Limits Metal Scrap Imports to Licensed Factories from Oct. 13, 2026

Egypt allows metal scrap imports only by licensed factories with a yearly waste permit, from Oct. 13, 2026.

Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade has set new conditions for importing metal scrap, including used railway rails, in force from Oct. 13, 2026.

The measure is Decree No. 501 of 2026, issued by Dr. Mohamed Farid Saleh¹. It was published in the Egyptian Gazette, Issue No. 225, on Oct. 12, 2026, and takes effect the day after publication¹.

In short, only licensed factories and recyclers may now bring metal scrap into Egypt. Each needs a yearly permit before shipping, and every shipment must arrive with safety certificates and pass radiation checks before release.

What does Decree 501 change for metal scrap?

The decree amends the rules that carry out Law No. 118 of 1975, Egypt’s main law on imports and exports¹. It replaces Clause No. 7 of Annex No. 2 of those rules. That clause covers metal scraps and leftovers, including used railway rails¹.

The new clause sets two kinds of conditions. The first decides who may import the scrap. The second decides what must happen before customs releases a shipment¹.

The General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC), Egypt’s import and export inspection agency, announced the decree on Oct. 14, 2026¹. It published the same text in Arabic on its Arabic news page².

Who may import metal scrap into Egypt now?

Importers must first get a prior annual import permit from the Waste Management Regulatory Authority (WMRA)¹. The decree treats metal scrap as non-hazardous waste for this permit¹.

Imports are also limited to two groups of buyers¹:

• Licensed factories that hold a licence from the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to use scrap as a raw material in production.
• Licensed scrap recycling factories.

A trader without one of these licences cannot import metal scrap under the new clause. In practice, the scrap must go to a plant that melts or reprocesses it, not to a reseller.

Are used car parts still allowed as scrap?

No. The decree states that the scrap item does not include used automotive spare parts¹. The Arabic text says the same thing in the same words².

This means a shipment cannot bring in used car parts as metal scrap. Such parts fall outside the scrap clause and its permit.

What must happen to railway rails before release?

Used railway rails remain inside the scrap item. But they must be cut up and broken before release¹. The Arabic text calls this "scrapping" the rails before customs lets them go².

The rule stops whole rails from entering under the scrap heading. Only rails already reduced to scrap pieces can leave the port.

Which checks does a scrap shipment face at the border?

Every shipment must pass a radiation inspection by the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA)¹. A representative of the Chemical Warfare Department must be present during this check¹.

The General Organization for Export and Import Control will also carry out random inspection of these shipments¹. So a shipment with all its papers may still be opened and checked.

Put together, the path of a shipment looks like this:

1. The importer holds the yearly permit from the waste authority and the industrial licence.
2. The shipment arrives with the required certificates from abroad.
3. Rails in the shipment are cut up and broken.
4. The atomic energy authority checks the shipment for radiation, with a chemical warfare representative present.
5. The export and import control agency may inspect the shipment at random.

Only after these steps can the scrap enter the Egyptian market.

Which papers must travel with a scrap shipment?

The decree asks for two certificates¹:

• An official certificate from the exporting country stating the scrap is "free of explosives or hazardous materials". A government authority must issue it, or a laboratory with international accreditation recognised by the export and import control agency.
• An inspection and analysis certificate from an internationally accredited laboratory, an Egyptian government laboratory or an Egyptian research centre.

The second certificate must show that the scrap has no harmful substances at dangerous levels¹. The test uses the lists in the Basel Convention, the international treaty on moving hazardous waste between countries. The scrap must not contain substances from Annex I of the treaty at a level that makes it hazardous under Annex III¹.

The scrap must also pass radiation and heavy metal tests¹.

Who is affected by the new scrap rules?

Steel mills and metal factories in Egypt that use imported scrap must now hold both an industrial licence and the yearly waste permit. Without the permit, their shipments cannot enter.

Recycling plants keep access to imported scrap, but only if they are licensed.

Traders and middlemen who buy scrap abroad for resale lose the right to import it under this clause. Their buyers in Egypt must now import directly.

Exporters abroad must now get two certificates before shipping. One comes from a government body or an accredited laboratory in their own country. Shipments without these papers will not be released.

Customs brokers must check that each file carries the permit and certificates before a shipment lands. Rail shipments also need time and equipment for cutting at the port.

How does this fit with Egypt’s other scrap rules?

Egypt already controls the scrap trade in the other direction. In 2026, the minister issued Decree No. 77, which bans exports of some types of scrap, raw materials and waste paper³. The Egyptian Customs Authority sent a circular to ports on that export ban on March 2, 2026⁴. A later customs circular on April 21, 2026 applied the ban to tariff line 7419200000⁴.

Egypt also charges an export fee on stainless steel scrap. Decree No. 530 of 2025 continued that fee³. An earlier decree, No. 301 of 2024, applied it to customs tariff heading 7204.21³.

On June 22, 2026, the customs authority also issued a joint circular on waste and scrap items released under Article 13 of the import rules⁴. Decree 501 now sets out, in one clause, the conditions for metal scrap coming in.

Together, these measures keep scrap inside Egypt and limit imported scrap to approved industrial users. The new decree adds safety checks for radiation, explosives and toxic substances at the border.

When do the new metal scrap conditions start?

The decree was published in the Egyptian Gazette on Oct. 12, 2026¹. It takes effect on the day after publication, which is Oct. 13, 2026¹.

The decree text in the announcements does not give a transition period. Shipments that reach Egyptian ports from Oct. 13 fall under the new conditions.

Key points on Egypt’s metal scrap import rules

The table sums up the main facts of the decree.

From Oct. 13, 2026, a scrap shipment without the yearly permit and both certificates will not be released at an Egyptian port.

Sources

1. ↩ Goeic| https://www.goeic.gov.eg/en/media-center/news/1534
2. ↩ الهيئة العامة للرقابة على الصادرات والواردات| https://www.goeic.gov.eg/ar/media-center/news/1534
3. ↩ الهيئة العامة للرقابة على الصادرات والواردات|القرارات الوزارية https://www.goeic.gov.eg/ar/laws-and-decisions/list/898
4. ↩ مصلحة الجمارك المصرية https://customs.gov.eg/Legislations/Manshorat?categoryId=4