By Viola Fahmy

CAIRO, Dec. 6 (Aswat Masriya) - Estimated to number in the hundreds, laws issued in the past two and a half years by presidential decree will be reviewed by Egypt's incoming parliament amid skepticism as to how the House will meet a 15-day window to revise that many laws.

Egypt's constitution gives the president legislative powers in the absence of parliament, powers which the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said in a report published last month, may have been used excessively by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and before him interim president, Adly Mansour for over two years. The report questioned whether the issued laws were a matter of "urgent necessity", a condition stipulated by the constitution. 

Article 156 also states that once parliament is elected, these laws must be "presented to, discussed and approved by the new House" within a period of 15 days from the legislature's first session.

The date of the first session of the House of Representatives remains unknown but the legislature is likely to convene towards the end of December.

The National Center for Research and Consulting claims that by June, Sisi and Mansour had issued round 513 laws, legal amendments and decrees.

These included controversial bills such as the anti-terrorism and a protest laws, that have been the centre of heated public debate.

Analysts and experts believe most laws will be passed without issue, highlighting 15 that will likely cause a stir:

1. The terrorism entities law, published in the official gazette in February 2015, regulates the process of "listing terrorist groups and terrorists". In a case mired in legal labyrinths, judges and prosecutors used this law once to place 18 Muslim Brotherhood leaders on a terrorist list, including the group's highest figure, Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie.

2. Perhaps one of the earliest and controversial laws issued in the past two and half years was the protest law. This law was issued by Mansour in November 2013 and since its inception has been at the centre of condemnation both by rights groups inside Egypt and civil and political watchdogs outside the country. Critics say the law is restrictive and in effect prohibits protests.

3. In July 2015, Sisi issued a decree allowing him to depose the head of the Central Bank of Egypt and three other auditing agencies including the Central Auditing Agency, ending an immunity from the executive authority that these four bodies previously enjoyed as stipulated in the constitution. The controversial law gives the president this power under four conditions which have been criticized for their vague wording including if the official was proven to be "morally compromised".

4. Amendments were made to the code of criminal procedures by Mansour in September 2013, allowing the country's highest court of appeal, the Court of Cassation and other courts to issue 45-day preventative detention orders which can be continuously renewed if the defendant faces a death sentence or life imprisonment.

5. In November 2014, Sisi issued a decree allowing the deportation of foreign defendants and convicts "whenever the [state's] supreme interest necessitates so." The deportation process needs the recommendation of Egypt's top prosecutor and the approval of cabinet before it is implemented. Legal experts believe that this law is a "clear" intervention by the presidency in judicial affairs.

6. Mansour issued a law in April 2014 to organise the process of challenging deals signed between the government and investors. The law effectively bans third parties from challenging these deals, coming after several court rulings which annulled the privitisation of public companies like Omar Effendi.

7. In July 2015 Sisi amended the graft law to allow defendants in such cases to avoid jail time through financial reconciliations with the government in order to recover much-needed state funds. The law stipulates that the defendants file their reconciliation request during the investigation before they go to court. If they go on trial they will be obliged to pay a fine equivalent to the value of the illicit gain they had accumulated. Critics dubbed this law, the "law for reconciliation with businessmen".

8. The civil service law issued by Sisi in March 2015 enraged broad sectors of public employees, but the government refused to go back on the law and said it aims to reform the state's administrative body. The law even prompted some employees to protest, reigniting labour action in the country after a months-long pause.

9. Marking a little over a year as president, Sisi issued a law in July 2015 allowing the defence and interior ministries and the intelligence services to set up and license security companies to guard facilities and to transfer money. At the time, the government said this sector was too chaotic which can harm national security, especially given the current security and political situation.

10. Issued by Sisi in June 2015, this law introduced a 10 percent raise in pensions for retired military personnel. The decision came into effect in July and stated that there is no minimum or maximum cap on these pension raises and that increase is part of the basic pension, not an allowance. 

11. In August this year Sisi amended the tax laws, suspending the application of the capital gains tax for two years starting May 2015. The announcement of the suspension itself had been made by the government in May. At the time a government spokesman said it was to preserve the competitiveness of Egypt's financial market and investments pumped into it.

12. Published in the official gazette in June 2014, this was one of the earliest amendments issued by Sisi as president. It was widely opposed because it stipulated that the heads of state universities be appointed by the president, who will choose of three names nominated by the minister of higher education

13. In September 2014, Sisi amended the law regulating the police authority. It stated that the military judiciary will be the sole judicial authority deliberating crimes committed by police.

14. One day ahead of the March investment summit, which Egypt organised to lure foreign investors and help boost its struggling economy, Sisi amended the investment law. The amended law replaced public tenders to sell state-owned land with "draws" through which competing companies will be allocated land plots. It also gives the investment authority the power to hand over land to companies for free, which critics say can be abused through corruption and nepotism.   

15. In July 2014, Sisi issued a decree placing a cap on the wages of state employees. The law stipulated that the maximum wage of a state employee cannot be more than 35 times the minimum wage or EGP 42,000. It has since been contested in court multiple times, by judges, prosecutors and bank employees who reject it.