By Matt Rusling
We caught up with US-ASEAN Business Council’s Director of Myanmar Affairs Anthony Nelson, who briefed us on the laws to look at in 2014 that will impact foreign investors in Myanmar.
Indeed, this year will see the newly opened country try to untangle its net of commercial laws, many of which are from the British Empire era.
Key legislation includes the Companies Law, a priority for revision toward year’s end that will clarify the registration of Myanmar companies.
“It will make it easier to see who’s involved in the management and who’s involved in the board of directors, which will help foreign companies that are looking to find partners, because it will be easier for them to sort through who’s connected to the company,” Nelson said.
It will also make clearer exactly what the criteria are for labeling a company foreign or domestic, which hopefully will lead to more joint ventures, he added.
The law is important for foreign companies that want to make sure their potential partners are not on the SDN list — a list of individuals, groups, and entities subject to economic sanctions by the U.S, Nelson said.
The national Land Use Plan is another important law for 2014, and is a priority for revision at the end of the year, Nelson said.
The law will likely set aside some land that’s been reserved for future urban development by clarifying the regulations around the use and development of property. And hopefully that will help address the skyrocketing cost of things such as office space, he said.
Myanmar has also been looking at financial institutions laws, and last year passed the Central Bank Law, which separated somewhat the central bank from the ministry of finance, he said.
Finally, the constitutional amendment process is being looked at.
Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is currently ineligible to serve as the country’s president or vice president, as laws written by the country’s former military junta bar her from holding the presidency because her two sons hold U.K. citizenship.
There have been some indications, particularly in President Thein Sein’s camp, that the USDP would look favorably upon a constitutional amendment that would make it possible for her to serve in that role, Nelson said.
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