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Under the Myanmar labour laws, employers are required to register their employment contracts with their employees. The township labour offices in Myanmar temporarily suspended registration of all employment contracts from mid-February 2017 in anticipation of the release of a new template employment contract, scheduled to be released by the end of February 2017. However, the draft new employment contract template has yet to be released, and township labour offices have since resumed registration of employment contracts using the current template.
The Myanmar Investment Law ("MIL"), which repealed the old Foreign Investment Law ("FIL") and Myanmar Citizen Investment Law ("MCIL"), was enacted in October 2016. A new addition to the MIL was the introduction of Myanmar Investment Commission's ("MIC") power to promote investments into certain areas and sectors. For example, MIL introduced the differentiation of tax incentives based on the location of the investment to promote investments in less developed areas of Myanmar, and also authorises the MIC to issue notifications setting out the promoted sectors.
On 22 February 2017, MIC issued Notification No. 10 / 2017 to specify:
- which regions will be designated as Zone 1 (Less Developed) regions, where investment businesses would be entitled to a period of 7 consecutive years of income tax exemption;
- which regions will be designated as Zone 2 (Moderately Developed) regions, where investment businesses would be entitled to a period of 5 consecutive years of income tax exemption; and
- which regions will be designated as Zone 3 (Adequately Developed) regions, where investments business would be entitled to a period of 3 consecutive years of income tax exemption.
On 1 April 2017, MIC issued Notification No. 13 / 2017 to prescribe the promoted sectors, which included, among others, (i) agriculture and agriculture related services, (ii) plantation and conservation of forests, (iii) livestock production, (iv) city development activities, (v) construction of roads, bridges and railways, (vi) construction of ports, (vii) power generation and production of renewable energy, (viii) telecommunication business, and (ix) education.
Separately, the much anticipated new Myanmar Companies Law has yet to be enacted, and indications are that the said enactment may only take place sometime in the second half of 2017.
Please note that whilst the information in this Update is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief at the time of writing, it is only
intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter and should not be treated as a substitute for specific professional advice.
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Rajah & Tann
Myanmar Company Limited
Room No. 408(A), Prime Hill Business Square, No. 60,
Shwe Dagon Pagoda Road, Dagon Township,
Yangon, Myanmar
http://mm.rajahtannasia.com
Contacts: Chester TohDirectorD +65 62320220chester.toh@rajahtann.comJainil Bhandari DirectorD +65 62320601jainil.bhandari@rajahtann.com| Rajah & Tann Asia is a network of legal practices based in Asia. |
Member firms are independently constituted and regulated in accordance with relevant local legal requirements. Services provided by a member firm are governed by the terms of engagement between the member firm and the client. |
This update is solely intended to provide general information and does not provide any advice or create any relationship, whether legally binding or otherwise. Rajah & Tann Asia and its member firms do not accept, and fully disclaim, responsibility for any loss or damage which may result from accessing or relying on this update. |
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