In the midst of debating the 2007 finance law, the Algerian parliament overwhelmingly passed a draft bill on Sunday (October 15th) to amend current arrangements for the promotion of investment to simplify them and make them more efficient.

The amendments specifically simplify the process for granting benefits linked to investment and allow a declaration system to replace the decision system, which involves a great deal of bureaucracy. It also aims to offset the reduction of customs duties and exemptions for the most prevalent imports.

The new law thus redefines the role of the National Development and Investment Agency, which acts as an interface between the government and businesses. The agency will now redirect its attention to informing, facilitating, assisting and promoting investment - as well as controlling it in conjunction with the fiscal and customs authorities. Additionally, it will monitor investors' adherence to commitments they have signed in return for certain benefits granted.

The National Investment Council, which is charged with monitoring application of the law, will see its role in development and investment strengthened.

Minister for Participation and Promotion of Investments Abdelhamid Temmar told journalists after the vote that the new law should simplify the attraction of investment by diminishing "all the sloth of administrative procedures".

The parliament also passed another draft law on the conditions for granting parcels of land to set up investment projects. The difficulty of finding appropriate sites has been raised by economic operators as a factor blocking investment progress.

The draft law, presented on October 18th by Finance Minister Mourad Medelci, sets out new conditions for transferring or granting concessions to land from the government's holdings.

Running investment projects will now be able to benefit from 20-year concessions, which may be renewed and converted into a legal transfer, according to carefully-defined criteria that the application orders will set out more precisely

However, the law does not apply to agricultural land, plots situated within expansion zones, tourist sites, plots of land situated within mining areas, plots of land designated for hydrocarbon operations and prospecting, and plots of land set aside for land ownership and housing promotion.

Temmar told the press after the vote that the land ownership constraints that had previously discouraged initiatives will be completely lifted before the end of the current year.

Algeria adopts measures to encourage investment