Algeria Loi n° 22-18 — Investment Code 2022 (AAPI + CNI + Régime Structurant)

Mechanism

Loi 22-18 is Algeria's foundational horizontal investment statute — the parent-layer above the sectoral pillars filed separately (Loi 19-13 Hydrocarbons 2019 and Loi 25-12 Mining 2025) and the legal vehicle through which all major Algerian inbound-FDI structures (automotive, energy, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals) are constituted.

Institutional architecture

1. AAPI (Agence Algérienne de Promotion de l'Investissement) — replaces legacy ANDI (Agence Nationale de Développement de l'Investissement). Placed under the Ministre Délégué Chargé de l'Investissement. Serves as the single-window investor facilitation body: processes investment declarations, issues investment certificates, coordinates incentive disbursement, and hosts the Registre National des Investissements digital platform. Created by Décret exécutif n° 22-296.

2. CNI (Conseil National de l'Investissement) — chaired by the Premier Ministre, membership drawn from relevant sectoral ministries plus the Banque d'Algérie. Approves Régime Structurant bespoke-convention projects and issues strategic-project classification decisions. Created by Décret exécutif n° 22-297.

3. Registre National des Investissements — mandatory digital-platform registration replacing the old déclaration d'investissement paper process. Investors must register prior to capital deployment; AAPI issues an investment certificate within 72 hours for online registrations. Governed by Décret exécutif n° 22-302.

Three investment regimes

Definitive closure of the 49/51 chapter

The most structurally significant provision is the codification of a liberalised FDI regime: the economy-wide 49/51 foreign-equity cap (introduced via the 2009 Loi de Finances complémentaire) is abolished and replaced with a positive list of strategic sectors where a 51% Algerian-equity floor is retained (Décret exécutif n° 22-298). Outside this list, majority or 100% foreign ownership is now permitted without prior authorisation, removing the primary structural barrier that had deterred non-hydrocarbons FDI for 13 years.

Investor-protection architecture

• National treatment: foreign investors treated on equal terms with Algerian nationals
• Free transfer of profits: guaranteed repatriation of net profits, dividends, and

capital after all Algerian-law obligations are met

• International arbitration: access to ICSID and New York Convention arbitration;

BIT protections preserved (Algeria has ~40 BITs in force)

• Grandfathering: rights and benefits acquired under Ordonnance 01-03 framework

preserved for prior investments

Downstream implications

• Foundational parent of DZ FDI architecture. The two already-filed DZ pillars —

Loi 19-13 Hydrocarbons (2019) and Loi 25-12 Mining (2025) — operate as sectoral special regimes layered above Loi 22-18's horizontal framework. All Sonatrach JVs (ENI, TotalEnergies, Equinor, Repsol, BP), the Stellantis Tiaret CKD-to-SKD expansion, and the Geely Ghazaouet 100kt/year automotive plant are constituted under Loi 22-18 + relevant sectoral law + AAPI Régime Structurant conventions.

• EU-Algeria Mattei Plan and REPowerEU channel. The SoutH2 Corridor (trans-Saharan

green-hydrogen pipeline from Algeria to Europe — Sonatrach + Sonelgaz + European partners) and the Desertec / ELMED undersea cable projects are being structured under the Régime Structurant bespoke-convention framework enabled by this law. The Mattei Plan (EUR 5.5bn EU–Africa investment envelope, 2023–2027) designates Algeria as a priority REPowerEU gas-and-renewables corridor partner.

• Critical-minerals downstream. Algeria's three under-development critical-mineral

clusters — Gara Djebilet iron-ore (USD 7bn), Oued Amizour zinc-lead, and Tébessa phosphate — are all constituted as Régime Structurant projects. Chinese (Tosyali), Indian, and Gulf capital (ADNOC, ACWA Power) are the primary FDI channels under Loi 22-18 for non-hydrocarbons resource development.

• North-African EM investment-code convergence. Loi 22-18 completes Algeria's

structural alignment with Morocco (Loi-cadre 03-22 Investment Charter, filed 2022-12-09), Egypt (Investment Law 72/2017), Tunisia (Loi 2016-71), and the broader MENA investment-code liberalisation cycle of 2016–2026. The 49/51-rule abolition in non-strategic sectors is the most consequential policy convergence signal of that cycle.

Open questions

• Pace of AAPI processing for Régime Structurant projects — AAPI institutional

capacity is the binding constraint on the DZD 2bn+ project pipeline; the digital Registre platform's live-service reliability has not been independently benchmarked.

• Whether Décret n° 22-298's strategic-activity exclusion list will be expanded

(e.g., to cover rare-earth or battery-materials processing) as Algeria develops Gara Djebilet + Oued Amizour to downstream refining scale.

• BIT arbitration interaction: Algeria has historically resisted ICSID jurisdiction

in hydrocarbon disputes (Sonatrach v. BP 2012); Loi 22-18's international-arbitration guarantee has not yet been tested in post-2022 investor-state proceedings.