Church Construction Law

The Church Construction Law is Egypt's Law No. 80 of 2016, which regulates the building and renovation of churches. It was published in the Official Gazette on 28 September 2016. Egypt's constitution of 2014 required parliament to pass such a law in its first term.

What the law provides

The legal representative of a Christian denomination applies to the provincial governor to build or renovate a church. The governor has four months to answer, and has to give reasons for a refusal.

Before the law, according to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, each new church needed the approval of the president.

Churches already in use

The law also covers churches that were in use without a licence. A committee formed by the prime minister reviews their cases for legalisation.

That committee's approvals have come in a series of decrees. The charity CSW reported that an order of 19 May 2026 legalised 191 churches and affiliated service buildings.

How it was received

The law has been both welcomed and criticised. An analyst at the Law Library of Congress wrote in 2016 that church officials endorsed it, and that some Christian legal scholars raised concerns about it. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy have both published criticism of it.