Dino Santaniello, head of Tilleke & Gibbins’ office in Vientiane, provided an updated Laos chapter for Foreign Investment Review 2023, a global guide to the legal and regulatory environment for foreign investment in 29 jurisdictions worldwide. Published and distributed by Lexology Getting the Deal Through (GTDT), the guide discusses law and policy on oversight of foreign investment, regulatory frameworks, procedural requirements, and other important considerations for foreign investors.

The Laos chapter aims to give investors an understanding of what to expect when establishing operations and operating in the Lao market, covering:

• Law and Policy: Government policies and practices, main laws and their scope of application (including details on investment promotional measures), definitions, rules for state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds, relevant authorities and oversight, and national interest provisions.
• Procedure: Jurisdictional thresholds, national interest clearance, securing approval, the review process for competition clearance and associated penalties, involvement of authorities, facilitation of clearance, and post-closing regulatory powers.
• Substantive assessment: Substantive tests for clearance, authorities’ consultation with other countries and other relevant parties, transactional prohibitions and objections, mitigating arrangements and challenges to a decision, and protection of confidential information.
• Recent cases, updates, and trends: Relevant recent case law, key recent and ongoing developments.

A PDF of the Laos chapter can be accessed through the button below.

Tilleke & Gibbins also contributed the Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam chapters to Foreign Investment Review 2023. To browse the full guide covering all 29 jurisdictions, please visit the Getting the Deal Through website.