FOUR EGYPTIAN COMPANIES LOSE QIZ ELIGIBILITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 002545 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ELA TREASURY FOR BRYAN BALIN AND FRANCISCO PARODI WHITE HOUSE FOR USTR- SONIA FRANCESKI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV PGOV PREL EG IS SUBJECT: FOUR EGYPTIAN COMPANIES LOSE QIZ ELIGIBILITY REF: 08 CAIRO 2410 ¶1. (U) The Government of Egypt has publicly announced that four Egyptian companies have had their eligibility to export under the Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) protocol suspended. The companies suspended are The Misr Company for Industrial and Textile Investments, The International Textile House of Egypt, The Egyptian Company for Dyeing and Trading (Azghaltex),and El Nenaiae Company for Industries and Trading. Each of these companies was suspended from QIZ program eligibility for three months as a result of non-compliance with the QIZ protocol. The first three did not meet the 10.5% Israeli content requirement and the last did not submit QIZ documentation. ¶2. (U) The QIZ Joint Committee agreed to these suspensions during its quarterly meeting held in Cairo last month (reftel). Each company is excluded from QIZ eligibility from November 23, 2008 to February 14, 2009. Further violations would carry penalties of 6 and 12 month suspensions. The three companies that had supplied documentation exported just under $112,000 to the U.S. under the QIZ program in the second quarter, a negligible amount of the $206 million in total QIZ exports to the U.S. during that period. ¶3. (U) The GOE released notice of the suspensions to the press as well as via updates to the Egyptian QIZ website (www.qizegypt.gov.eg/Data QualifiedCompanies.aspx). SCOBEY