Beirut 9/9/2008
Today the new amended Lebanese off-shore company law was published in the Official Gazette effective same day.
The new amendment introduced major changes in the said law especially in expending its scope. The new law has permitted to offshore companies to expand their activity to an extra seven new activities in addition to broadening the scope of the previously existing activities. The law has kept some restrictions on some activities that off-shore companies should not enter into namely insurance, banking, financial institutions' operations and other activities that fall under the control of the Central Bank.
However, the board of directors no longer needs to include Lebanese nationals. The bank guarantee has been also waived. All facilities and tax exemptions that existed under the old law were preserved.
This is a major change in the legislation and it is expected to attract many investors who are intersted to conduct their investments in a tax free environment.