Not on the website, the guidelines for centres are in a large very hard to read paper document with confusing translations that are sent to dive centres.
They are supposedly a "real authority" and are a branch of the ministry of tourism. It used to be the Egyptian Diving and Lifesaving Federation but took over from them.
Dive centres by law must comply with their regulation. They do have the authority to close down centres and quite often do.
So in theory they're a good thing. However, in reality they're corrupt to the core and causing issues for everybody no matter how legal.
Their rules and guidelines are deliberately (and a cdws rep admitted this) aimed to close all the small dive centres leaving only the very large ones and chains around. The fact that the entire board all own large centres apparently have nothing to do with it. Minimum standards such as 60+ tanks, a very high capacity compressor, 400kg+ of lead and so on are enforced and centres are commonly closed down for being "dangerous" when it turns out they simply dont have enough lead for the standards etc.
Obviously you dont NEED 400kg of lead and 60 tanks if you're a small centre based at a small hotel that gets 10 divers a day but without it you'll be closed for being "dangerous". A freedive centre here was closed recently as it "didnt have enough tanks".
Lots of centres closed by them still operate freely, often in front of the inspectors (backsheesh etc). Some dangerous centres are open and licenced, some perfectly good centres are closed for reasons such as the above.
The instructors also have to be licenced (which obviously means paying them) every year. You have to sit an exam so laughable ive give it to open water students for a laugh (not even qualified OWs) and they've passed. 2 years ago there were complaints it was too easy so they said this year it would be DM level questions on all the main areas. It wasn't - it still asks things like do cone snails make good pets and so on. A complete farce that proves nothing and seems designed to let everyone pass.
At a recent IDC students had to do a business analysis and one of the sections is identifying the biggest threat to your business in your geographical area. It had people of all nationalities from all types of dive centres and spread all round the country. They'd never met before and didnt discuss answers before writing them. Every one of them identified CDWS as the biggest threat to their business independently.
So their problem is standards designed to deliberately close small centres, corruption regarding who gets licences and who gets closed, a deliberate blind eye to closed centres still operating and no enforcement, no useful minimum standard for instructors or guides to pass. And they get money from all sides!
(fwiw its not bitterness on my part - i work for a CDWS licenced centre and have a legal work permit and cdws card myself. Despite that i see every day just how utterly ridiculous and worthless their entire body is.)
)
