Arab corporate law

Arab corporate law (Arabic: قانون الشركات qānūn ash-sharikāt) governs the rights, obligations and limitations of companies, cooperatives, associations or other organisations, and regulates the conduct of business in the Arab Union. All legal persons—apart from natural persons and government entities—are subject to corporate law, which is uniform across all republics (federated states) and other administrative divisions of the Arab Union. Because of the country's strong common law tradition, system of classification developed organically over time through a series of bills passed by the Arab Congress, ultimately consolidated by the Domestic Trade Act, 2000.

Because of the federal structure of the Arab Union, all legal entities incorporate in one or more republics (or equivalent units) or at the federal level. The State Revenue Committee is the agency responsible for administering and enforcing corporate law across the country. Arab corporate law has provisions against "white-collar crime" (ie. crime committed by or against corporations, including fraud or insider trading), however, it is designated separately by the 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 ownership and liability for the operator:


 * 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