The Department of Industry and Commerce of Vientiane recently announced a requirement that business operators manufacturing products in Laos, or importing products from foreign countries into Laos, must use the Lao language for labels on all products and packaging sold in the Lao market. This requirement was announced because many business operators were unaware of a previous ordinance, which entered into force in January 2016, that imposed the same requirement.

Under the requirement, the labels must include the following information in the Lao language:

• Type of goods
• Trademark registered by the manufacturer and the trademark used in trade by the importer in Laos
• Location of manufacture, the importer’s trading address in Laos, and the country of origin
• Price, amount, quality, weight and net weight, components and component percentage, directions for use, warnings, date of manufacture, and expiration date

Business operators that do not adhere to these requirements face the following sanctions:

If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact Tilleke & Gibbins at [email protected] or +856 21 262 355.