The much awaited 2012 FIL was promulgated on the 2nd November. There was great speculation whether the law would be more liberal that the 1988 law, offering greater benefits to foreign investors, or more restrictive, answering the demands of Myanmar local business lobbyists and protecting significant areas of economic activity for Myanmar citizens.

The new law is not significantly different from the earlier legislation and as such keeps the door open for foreign investment, but there have been no dramatic developments one way or the other.

Perhaps the most telling point is that, under great international pressure to release the new law, the Government has presented a general framework for investment, but has left unanswered a number of issues which are to be dealt with in the small print of the ancillary Rules & Regulations which are yet to be published. The Government has set themselves a goal to have the Rules and Regulations published within

90 days.

In this regard, the new law is very much a “work in progress”