Human Rights in Lao PDR

PEACE INDEPENDENCE DEMOCRACY UNITY PROPERTY

EMBASSY OF THE LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
2222 S. Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20008
Tel: (202) 332-6416
Fax: (202) 332-4923

Foreign Investment Management Committee

HOW TO SET UP
BUSINESS IN LAOS

Foreign Investment Application Procedures at the
Committee for Investment and Foreign Economic Cooperation CIFEC

First Step: Submit a Letter of Intent and an Application to the Office of the Secretary in the Department for Investment Management. (Application forms are available at a cost of USD 10.)
(For small projects follow the attached Flow Chart TM 001.)
(For large projects (such as hydropower) see attached Flow Chart TM 002.)

Second Step: CIFEC will send the application to all related ministries to get professional approval within 20 working days.

Third Step: After getting approvals from related ministries, the Department of Investment Management will bring the requested project to the Weekly Professional Meeting for additional comment on the project. (The Weekly Professional Meeting includes technicians from various ministries.) This procedure usually takes about 14 days.

Fourth Step: After getting approval at the Weekly Professional Meeting, the General Secretary of CIFEC will submit the application to the Permanent Committee which includes the Prime Minister and the Vice-Prime Minister. A final decision should be made within 20 days either way.

Fifth Step: Upon receipt of an approval notice from the Permanent Committee, the CIFEC will then issue an Investment License within a week to the applicant, provided the company's articles of association have given the necessary information to the Committee regarding company by-laws, administration, location, shareholders, and personnel policy.

Sixth Step: After receiving the Investment License, the applicant proceeds to obtain the following additional registration papers and permission before beginning actual business operations (See attached sheets on Business and Tax Registration);

Business Registration with the Ministry of Commerce or appropriate commercial section (municipality/provincial/special area's Department of Commerce);

Tax Registration with the Tax Department in the Ministry of Finance;

Permission to make business stamp (seal/logo) from the Minisstry of Interior;

Permission from any related ministries regarding technical administration and conformance to international standards of production.

Business & Tax Registration Procedure:

The procedure for registering a business in the Lao P.D.R. is as follows:

"One-Stop Shopping"

The applicant submits the application to register the business with the appropriate commercial section. (* See Note Below).

The commercial section submits the documents to the concerned sectors.

The concerned sectors send the documents back to the commercial section.

The commercial section submits the documents to the finance section (Tax Department).

The finance section gives the documents back to the applicant. * Note - The "appropriate commercial section" is determined by the following division of authority in reviewing and granting business registrations:

A. At the ministerial level (Ministry of Commerce.

The business registration applicants at this level are businesses involved in the sectors of trade, transportation, construction/urban planning, posts and telecommunication, industry and handicraft, all foreign investment projects;

B. At the municipal and provincial levels, including special geographic areas, authority is assigned to the municipal/provincial special area's Department of Commerce.

The business registration applicants at this level are typically branch offices, wholes ale businesses, business centers, retail petrol pumps, and small-scale businesses in all sectors of the economy. Prior to applying for business registration at the provincial level, businesses must get a favorable recommendation from the Ministry of Commerce.

C. At the district level (District Commercial Office).

Business registration applicants at this level include general retailer shops, small scale food and drink enterprises, barber shops, beauty shops, bicycle and motorcycle services, sales of sporting goods and educational materials.

Decree No. 750 of the Ministry of Commerce specifies the period of time for the consideration of business registration applications by the various departments as follows:

The appropriate commercial section, after receiving the application, must consider and forward it to the concerned sectors within 10 days. This implies that the commercial section screens the type, the manner and the form of the business, based on its understanding of the proposed venture, then forwards the application to the concerned sectors.

The concerned sectors, after receiving the application, have 30 additional days to consider it, provide written justification for their recommendations, and send the application back to the appropriate commercial section. This means that each of the concerned sectors determines, based on its rules, criteria and conditions, whether the enterprise has the ability and readiness to conduct business in that concerned sector or not. If the business receives approval from the concerned sector, the sector's representative will write "approved" on the application. If the business cannot be approved, the concerned sector will provide the reasons in writing.

After receiving the written recommendation from the concerned sectors, the appropriate commercial section will return the documents to the applicant (if the application is not approved), or will continue the process by forwarding the documents to the financial section (tax department) within 10 days (if the application has been approved.)

After receiving the approved application and the business registration paper granted by the appropriate commercial section, the tax department will further consider and, if approved, will forward the business registration and provide the tax registration paper to the applicant within 10 days.

After receiving both the business and tax registrations, the enterprise must conduct its business under the rules and regulations of the concerned sector(s).

Remarks: For foreign investment this registration procedure must be done after getting the Foreign Investment License from the Committee for Investment and Foreign Economic Cooperation (CIFEC).

News | Discovery | Lao Officials | Latest Info