Law making process

A new investment law has been rushed through Burma’s Parliament, with the Upper House giving its approval on October 6. According to the Myanmar Investment Commission, the law is expected to take effect soon. Earth Rights International and other civil society groups are concerned that the ...

The government cabinet has been exploring ways to better facilitate and promote investment in Special Economic Zones, after many zones have been set up in the provinces and in Vientiane. The cabinet on September 26 convened an extraordinary meeting and discussed a draft of the Law on ...

Real estate associations have proposed amending the Law on Land and the Law on Trading Real Estate to create favourable conditions for investors in property investment. Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association, said the association proposed amending the two laws to permit ...

Representatives of around 20 civil society organisations will meet on September 16 to discuss key chapters of Cambodia’s long-gestating freedom of information law, which is meant to be completed by late December. “We’ll discuss mechanisms to submit complaints if people don’t receive the requested information,” said ...

International lawyers have welcomed Myanmar’s new investment law, saying it will create a better investment environment for both local and foreign investors once enforced. Jo Daniels, managing partner of Baker & McKenzie Myanmar, said at a media roundtable that the new law could be one ...

Laos government has in principle approved four laws, two decrees and other policies to streamline its administrative system and boost socio-economic development. The endorsement was reached at the government’s July monthly meeting, with two days of talks wrapping up on 22 July. Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office ...

World famous for its endless swarms of motorcycles, Vietnam is considering banning bikes in the capital over fears its leafy streets will become overrun as the population swells and its middle class buys up cars in record numbers. Hanoi is forecast to have seven million motorcycles ...

A draft of the long-awaited Sugar Act is to be revised with recommendations from industry figures at a meeting of the Sugar and Sugar Related Products Merchants and Manufacturers Association on 17 May. Once the revision is complete the act will be submitted to parliament through Myanmar’s ...

Parliament is taking steps to slash one repressive law used to crack down on activists and will debate heavily revising another later this week. The junta-era, 1975 State Protection Act was revoked by the Pyithu Hluttaw on 9 May after the conclusion that the law was explicitly ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications has defended the controversial new Telecommunications Law following a biting legal analysis by rights group Licadho, which says the legislation is a veiled tool to silence critics and potentially criminalize private expression. Keep reading ...