Allen & Overy LLP (JD Supra Myanmar/Burma)

The amended Electronic Transactions Law (ETL) is one of several legislative changes that have emanated from the recent military takeover in Myanmar. These changes affect banks, insurers, providers of payments infrastructure and participants in the financial sector in Myanmar more generally. This bulletin summarises the new legislation and sets out the specific impacts on business. Please see...

On the morning of 1 February 2021, in response to allegations of voter fraud, Vice-President Myint Swe (who has since assumed the role of acting President) declared a State of Emergency for one year and conferred full legislative, administrative and judicial power to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. Please see full Publication below for more...

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (the NLD) celebrates its third anniversary of government this year. Fourteen months from now, campaigning will commence for Myanmar’s 2020 general election, which will be its third since the country’s reintroduction of free elections in 2010. This offers an opportune moment to consider the performance of the NLD government in...

The Myanmar government has at long last announced that foreign insurers will be entitled to seek market access to its insurance sector in 2019. This note builds on our previous publication: Liberalisation of the Myanmar Insurance Sector, Sept 2017 and sets out the licencing process and discusses issues surrounding the establishment of local joint ventures. Please see full article below for...

Myanmar’s recently issued Notification 25/2018 liberalises its wholesale and retail trade sectors, allowing both 100% foreign and JV entities to operate in Myanmar. This update summarises the requirements that foreign investors need to know to conduct retail and wholesale activities in the country.

It has been a year since opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took office as State Counsellor in Myanmar, becoming the de facto head of the country’s first elected government in half a century. How is her National League for Democracy-led NLD government dealing with the formidable challenge of transforming the country? This bulletin explains what potential investors need to know about Myanmar’

The new Myanmar Investment Law came into force on 18 October 2016 and the implementing rules came into effect on 30 March 2017 along with the other relevant notifications which were all published recently. These instruments create the new legal framework for the investment process for Myanmar. In our previous bulletin on the Investment Law “A big week for Myanmar: A new investment law and...

On 30 March 2017, the Myanmar Ministry of Planning and Finance published the Investment Rules (the Investment Rules) completing the framework for the new and long-awaited investment regime in Myanmar established by the new Myanmar Investment Law, which came into force on 18 October 2016 (the Investment Law). It is hoped that the Investment Law and Investment Rules will streamline the...

Following two years of consultation, Myanmar’s highly anticipated new investment law (the Investment Law) was approved by the Amyotha Hluttaw on 5 October 2016, having been approved by the Pyithu Hluttaw on 28 September 2016. It was signed by the President on 18 October 2016. The aim of the law is to rationalise the investment framework by combining the Myanmar Citizen’s Investment Law with...

After a landslide victory in Myanmar’s general election held on 8 November 2015, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government took office on 30 March 2016, with U Htin Kyaw named as President. The new NLD government (the Government), which now consists of 22 Ministries rather than 36 under the previous government, announced that it would issue a “100-day plan”...

On 5 January 2016, the Parliament of Myanmar passed its new and much awaited Arbitration Law. This Arbitration Law follows and gives effect to Myanmar’s ratification of the New York Convention in April 2013. One of the aims of the Arbitration Law, which is currently only available in Myanmar language, is to encourage the resolution of disputes by arbitration. Many of its provisions are...

On 31 January 2013, MIC issued a notification outlining prohibited and restricted activities for foreign investment (2013 Notification). For further information on the Foreign Investment Law, the Foreign Investment Rules and the 2013 Notification, please see our client bulletins Myanmar enacts new foreign investment law dated 14 November 2012 and Myanmar issues foreign investment rules dated...

Six decades of military dictatorship have left the rule of law diminished and badly undermined. It is not that the legal system has disappeared altogether. It’s there but it needs to be brought back to full life if the country is to have any chance of attracting the sort of inward investment it so desperately needs.