In Egypt, as in other developing countries, a national biosafety system is necessary to ensure the safe development of biotechnology products and facilitate collaborative research activities with other countries. Until 1995 existing regulations in Egypt did not include guidelines for handling transgenic materials under contained conditions nor did they cover the release of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) into the environment.

As AGERI is the primary institute that deals with agricultural genetic engineering in Egypt, AGERI influenced the Egyptian government in moving forward to build a national biosafety policy to regulate such activities.

The Egyptian National Biosafety Committee (NBC) was formed according to the ministerial decree number 85 in January 1995. This committee is responsible for putting together policies and procedures to govern the use of modern biotechnology in the country. To strengthen the structure of expertise in the committee and to cover broadly all those interested in the safe application of genetic engineering, the decree was amended by the following decrees:

•  Ministerial Decree number 322 in Mars 1995
•  Ministerial Decree number 174 in February 1997
•  Ministerial Decree number 902 in July 1997
•  Ministerial Decree number 1055 in August 1997

To formulate a biosafety system for Egypt, information was gathered from other countries regarding their regulations, guidelines and system design. A draft document entitled “The Establishment of a National Biosafety System in Egypt: Regulations and Guidelines”, was prepared by AGERI including regulations and guidelines adapted to the Egyptian condition. This document was revised by the NBC and approved by governmental authorities as the binding code of conduct for biosafety in Egypt (ministerial decree number 136 in February 1995).