The government has upheld the ban on the commercial importation of three-wheel vehicles, tuk-tuks and motorcycles, with the exception of tricycles and their chassis, Minister of Foreign Trade, Industry and Investment Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour announced Tuesday.

The minister’s announcement added that importing tricycles is prohibited if they are wholly or partially dissembled.

Abdel Nour stated that this decision was discussed and later approved by a committee comprising representatives from the ministries of Interior, Finance, Industry, Foreign Trade and Investment.

The committee also included representatives from the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality (EOS), the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI).

The minister noted that the decision was approved by the Egyptian Cabinet in their meeting last week. The decision aims to reduce the spread of the vehicles “which have became a dangerous phenomenon that are used in criminal operations and contribute to accidents”.

The minister added that tuk-tuks are an unsafe and unlicensed method of transportation and that the decision to ban them was made to “preserve the lives of Egyptian citizens”.

In February, the Egyptian Cabinet announced that importing tuk-tuks has been banned for one-year, while the ban on the importing of their production components was set for three-months.