Our March 2013 International Trade Compliance Update had a link to the Client Alert entitled, New Foreign Investment Regulations – Part 1 which was prepared by our Myanmar Center. The Myanmar Center has now prepared a second Client Alert, New Foreign Investment Regulations – Part 2, which analyzes the Myanmar Foreign Investment Law 2012 (FIL) rules. The second Client Alert focuses on Notification 11/2013 issued by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development (the Rules) as it impacts: (i) the ongoing rights and obligations of investors in key areas during the life of an investment, (ii) the continuing reporting obligations with which foreign investors must comply, and (iii) the penalties and other actions that can be taken by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) if an investor does not comply with its obligations.

The Myanmar Center’s first Client Alert on the FIL focused on the investment approval process for foreign investors seeking to invest in Myanmar through means of an MIC approved investment (FIL Company) and on the permitted and non-permitted investment activities and sectors described in the MIC Notification.

Since the first Client Alert was circulated, the Myanmar Parliament (Union Assembly) has considered the percentage holding a foreign investor can take in a “restricted or prohibited business,” as defined in the FIL.  In a recent vote, the Union Assembly upheld the original provision in the Rules, which states that a foreign investor can take no more than an 80% stake in such a joint venture.

In addition to the second Client Alert, the Myanmar Center has prepared a diagram showing the various bodies involved in foreign investment  in Myanmar.