To amend the provisions of Articles (6,13,14, 15,16,19,22,24,26 and 31) of Investment Law No. /10/ issued on 4/5/1991 as follows:

F- To license for the Arab and foreign investor to own and lease the lands and real estates necessary for the establishment of the investment projects or expansion thereof within the limits of the area and period of lease estimated in light of the actual need of the project and excess of the ownership ceiling defined in the laws and regulations in force according to the proposal of the concerned authority contrary to any text in force.

Upon the cancellation of the project or its final liquidation, the investor shall have to relinquish to others, according to the laws and regulations in force, his property in excess of the ceiling defused legally. In this case, the Arab and foreign investor shall have to relinquish to others his ownership of the lands of the project and the buildings constructed thereon provided that he obtains a prior approval from the Council if the relinquishment is for the interest of a non-Syrian person, period of two years shall be defined for this execution of said waiver process.

C- The investment project licensed according to the provisions of this law, after the elapse of the two exemption periods stipulated in paras A & B of this article, shall be subject to the taxation exemptions and other privileges stipulated in the laws and regulations relevant thereto which are applied to the non licensed similar projects according to the provisions of this law namely the following:

• Provisions of the Legislative Decree No. 174 of 16 Feb. 1952 that exempt the natural persons and jurisdictional persons who deal with the Marine Transportation from the tax imposed on income of profits.

• Para /3/ of Article /4/ of the Legislative Decree No. 85 for the year 1949 and its amendments applied to the establishments, companies and the agriculture projects.

1. Where the initiation period of the project licensed according to this law exceeds three years, the period in excess shall be deducted from the taxation relief period stipulated in para. A&B of Article /I3/of this law.

2. The Higher Investment Council - in exceptional cases up to its discretion - may grant the investment projects a period or additional consecutive periods so that the initiation period of the project licensed under this law provisions doesn't exceed five years. Not be deducted from the original tax exemption period stipulated in para. A & B of Article 13 of this law.

By a decision from the Council, an additional exemption period shall be added to the two taxation exemption periods stipulated in para. A & B of Article /13/ of this law for the new project that will be licensed by the Council according to the provisions of this law as follows:

1. Two years if the total commodity or service projects exports, the value of which actually transferred to SAR, whether in cash on in kind,, exceeds 50% according to the currency regulations in force, of the total production value during the original exemption period.

2. Two years if the project is one deemed by the Council that it is of basic importance to the national economy in light of its capital investments or the extent of its contribution to the development of the national product, export promotion, increasing work opportunities and its employment of a high standard of the scientific technology and technical one or its contribution in the maintenance of environment as maritime transport projects, heavy industries, fine instruments of high technology, fertilisers etc.

3. Two years if the industrial or agricultural investment project is established in one of the developing governorates: Raqqa, AI Hassakah, Deir Ez Zor.

3. It shall be permissible, by a decision from the Council, to exceed the percentage allowed for the exporter to retain from the outcome of foreign currencies generated from the export returns according to foreign currency regulations in force.

4. It shall be permissible, by a decision from the Council, according to the requirements of the project's nature of activity, to allow the companies and projects licensed under this law to open banking accounts abroad to secure their requirements, settle their obligations and collect their dues provided that the amounts deposited in these accounts do not exceed 50% of the capital paid in foreign currency.

5. It shall be permissible, by a decision from the Council, to allow the projects and companies licensed under this law provisions to transfer upon need part of their assets in foreign currencies deposited duly at the Syrian banks to the Syrian currency to cover their needs and local liabilities through these banks at the prevailing exchange rate in the neighboring markets.

1. The joint projects licensed under this law, in which the public sector contributes by a percentage not less than 25% of their capital, shall take the form of a closed shareholding company or a company of limited liability. It shall be permissible when needed, upon a decision from the Council, to have the public sector participation either in cash, or in kind in the form of real estates, accessories, and equipment, new or second hand machinery.

2. The funders shall set the charter of the joint company in a way consistent with the nature of its work and form of its structure. It shall he permissible to specify in this charter the nationality of the chairman, and board members, their number, ages, their bonuses, remuneration, method of their election or recruitment, ratio of the non-Syrian representation in the board of directors, mechanism of work in the board, defining the company's capital, value of the share in the Syrian currency and its equivalent in foreign currency without abidance by the laws and regulations in force namely the Trade Law no. 149 for the year 1949 - This charter shall be issued by a decision from the premier after the Council's approval thereof.

3. It shall be permissible to the Council, by a decision therefrom, to apply the provision of para. (B) of this article on the shareholding or limited liability companies which are non joint and created under this law to execute projects licensed according to its provisions, in light of their importance in terms of its various objectives, projects, volume of their capital or the nationality of the founders

1. The joint companies licensed under this law shall be exempted from the stamp fee due on the issue of the shares according to the provisions of Law No.15 for 1993.

2. The new non-joint closed shareholding companies that launch their shares for the public writing by a percentage of not less than 50% of their shares, which will be licensed under this law, shall be exempted from the stamp fee due on the issue of their shares according to Law No.15 for 1993.

3. The holding companies that launch stocks of their projects and companies for the public writing at the ratio of not less than 50% of their stocks and that will be licensed under this law, shall be exempted from the stamp fee due on the issue of their stocks according to the provisions of Law No. 15 for 1993.

Provisions of paragraph A Article /24/ shall he amended and become as follows: Investors of Syrian expatriates and citizens of the Arab and foreign countries, after the elapse of five years of project investment, shall be permitted to retransfer the value of their net share in the project in foreign currency abroad, on basis of the actual project value on the date of relinquishment according to the executive instructions issued by the Council in this respect.

1. Projects and investments licensed under the provisions of this law shall enjoy non-confiscation, expropriation or limitations in the disposal of the investment ownership or its returns unless it is for the purpose of the public interest for a fair indemnity. It shall also be impermissible to put them under seizure except by a jurisdictional decision. Disputes in all of these cases shall be settled by resorting to the competent Syrian jurisdiction.

2. Investment disputes between investors of Arab and foreign countries citizens whose projects are covered under the provisions of this law and the public Syrian bodies and institutions shall be settled according to the following:

• Through amicable solution

• Should both parties fail to reach an amicable solution within six months as of the date of submitting a written notice for the amicable settlement by either parties of the dispute, either of them shall have the right to resort to one of the following methods:

• Resort to Arbitration

• Resort to the Syrian jurisdiction

• Resort to Arab Investment Court formed under the Corporate Agreement For The Investment of Arab Capitals in the Arab Countries in 1980.

• Or that the dispute is settled according to the provisions of Investment Protection and Guarantee Agreement concluded between S.A.R. and country of the investor.

3. Investors of the Arab or foreign countries citizen may insure their money invested in the approved projects with The Arab Establishment For Guarantee of Investment or with any other establishment through the approval of the competent authority.

Article /3I/ thereof shall he amended and become as follows: It shall be permissible, by a decision from the Council, to grant the privileges and facilities stipulated in this law in the exemptions from the taxes and fees relieving to any of the projects existing prior to its date of effectiveness or those that are established after date of effectiveness and which are not licensed under it. All commitments stipulated therein shall be applicable to it including the tourist projects and Article /34/ of this law shall be considered amended ipso facto, in line with the provisions of this article.

1. The holding companies shall be added to the companies stipulated in the Trade Law. They shall be subject to the provisions applicable to the closed shareholding companies stipulated in said law, provisions of the amended article /19/ according to this law and provisions of article /21/ of law no.10 for 1991.

2. Projects created by the holding companies stated in para. A of this article or in which they share in their capital by not less than 51 % may be covered by law no.10 for 1991 and according to its provisions, They shall also be subject to the provisions of para. B- of article 19, article 21 of law no. 1 0 for 1991.

3. The license establishing these companies shall be issued through a decision from the Premier.

4. Net profits registered to the accounts of the holding companies from their newly created projects or from the companies they are contributing therein according to the provisions of this article shall not be subject to the tax of industrial profits, commercial and non-commercial profits.

1. Provisions of items (1,2,3,5,8,9,10) of first article of this law shall be applicable to the agricultural, industrial and marine transport investment projects licensed or shall be licensed under Law No. 10 for 1991.

2. Provisions of the two items (4&7) of article one of this law shall be applicable to the new projects that will be licensed by the Council as of the enforcement date of this law.

A- Ratio of income tax on net profit realized by the shareholding companies that announce their shares for general writings in the private and joint sector that have their headquarters in Syria for all activities shall be determined for 25% inclusive contribution in the military effort. This tax shall be excluded from the addition to the interest of local administration. Provisions of Article 3 of Law No. 20 of 6 July 1991 concerning the definition of the income tax ratio on profit of said companies shall be definitely amended according to the provisions of this article.