Advisory Committee Meeting to Report on Progress of the Revision of the Law on Enterprise (Version 2013)

Vientiane Capital, 22 March 2022. Department of Enterprise Registration and Management of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) organized the Advisory Meeting to Review the Draft Revised Law on Enterprise (Version 2013), which is one of the main activities of the Pillar A in the Lao Competitiveness and Trade Project (LCT).

The meeting was held at the MoIC, and chaired by Deputy, H.E. PhD. Manothong Vongxay, and there were participants from the Advisory Committee for Enterprise Law Revision which composed of representatives from concerned government agencies, and Department of Enterprise Registration and Management.

At the opening speech, Deputy Minister Manothong mentioned that the meeting aims to review and provide comments on the draft revised Law on Enterprise, No. 46/NA, dated 26 December 2013, and plan for organizing regional public consultations in the northern, central, and southern parts of the country. The Enterprise Law (2013) was revised in response to the Prime Minister’s Order on Improvement of Regulation and Coordination Mechanism on Doing Business in Lao PDR, No.02/PMO, dated 01 February 2018. The revision has taken into consideration two key areas including starting a business (Section II- Business Registration and Minority Investor Protection (Section X-Limited Company). The revised draft is scheduled for review and approval by the Government in its monthly meeting in July 2022 and National Assembly endorsement at the 4th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly’s Ninth Legislature in late 2022.

After that, Mr. Aphisid Sengsourivong, Director General of Department of Enterprise Registration and Management updated the progress report of the revision of Law on Enterprise (Version 2013) and passed the draft amendment with the committee before commencing regional public consultations including northern, central and southern parts of the country.

During the meeting, various comments were made on the draft revised Law and its revision work plan. The meeting also suggested that the draft revised law should be disseminated to the related government agencies and business sectors earlier in advance to ensure sufficient time for relevant parties in reviewing and providing comments on revised draft law in particular on the key aspects of the law and its alignment with good regional and international practices.

This meeting is supported by the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT) project. The LCT project is a multi-donor project funded by Australian Aid, Irish Aid, USAID, and the World Bank Group, which implementing at the Department of Planning and Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Commerce. LCT project aims to eliminate the barriers to private sector-led growth by improving the regulatory environment, lowering trade costs and raising firm-level competitiveness.