Corporate law of the Arab Union

This article covers legislation concerning incorporation of legal persons in the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; commonly known as the Arab Union) according to domestic corporate law, which is more or less identical within each of the republics of the Arab Union. Because of the country's strong common law tradition, these classifications developed organically over time through a series of bills passed by the Arab Congress or by republican governments.

Because of the federal structure of the Arab Union, all legal entities can be incorporated in one or more republics or at the federal level. The State Revenue Committee is the agency responsible for administering corporate law in the Arab Union and its 20 republics. It is important to note, however, that corporate law falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of republican governments: while the basics, such as types of incorporation, are uniform across the 20 republics, details such as the particular requirements to be incorporated as one another legal entity type, as well as all other types of corporate and business regulation, can vary considerably between republics.

The only uniformly-applied law affecting incorporated entities concerns criminal matters, such as fraud or inside trading, both of which are illegal according to the exclusively federal Criminal Code. Non-criminal legal matters affecting entities which were incorporated federally are decided according to the specific corporate law of the republic(s) for which the matter is most relevant. For example, the federally-incorporated technology and shipping conglomerate Sinocrot was sued by the Palestinian National Longshoremen's Union for allegedly forcing workers at its Jaffa, Gaza and Port Said shipyards to work in conditions management knew to be unsafe; as legislation regarding workplace safety is considered corporate law, Palestinian corporate law was applied to the case, both in the rulings of the Palestine National Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Palestine, and during the appeal process to the federal Supreme Court of the Arab Union which is ongoing.

List of legal entity types
All legal entities are incorporated as one of ten possible legal types, depending on the nature of liability for owners, shareholders or employees:


 * Shariket el-Mossahameh (شركة المساهمة): publicly listed company (minimum capital PSD 450,000)
 * Shariket Mahdoudet el-Mas'oulieh (شركة محدودة المسؤولية): limited liability company (no minimum capital)
 * Shariket Tadamon (شركة تضامن): general partnership
 * Sharikeh Tawsieh Basitah (شركة توصية بسيطة): limited partnership
 * Shariket Tadamoniet Mahdoudet el-Mas'oulieh (شركة تضامنية محدودة المسؤولية): limited liability partnership
 * Ta'awnieh Mamloukeh lil-Mostakhdamin (تعاونية مملوكة للمستخدمين): employee-owned cooperative
 * Mo'assaseh Mamloukeh lid-Dawleh (مؤسسة مملوكة للدولة): state-owned enterprise
 * Sharikeh Tabeah (شركة تابعة): subsidiary
 * Monazzamet Gheir Hokoumieh (منظمة غير حكومية): non-governmental organisation (not-for-profit)
 * Mo'assaseh Kheirieh Mosajileh (مؤسسة خيرية مسجلة): registered charity