Your business may concern importing and/or exporting of goods and materials, therefore knowledge about relevant laws and regulations is essential as well as about bilateral trade agreements Lao PDR has with other countries.

Highlights of law and regulations

    The Customs Law defines principles of importing and exporting of goods between Lao PDR and other countries and within Lao PDR. Customs law and regulations are to promote domestic and foreign investment, export as well as seek incomes for national budget. All goods transactions must oblige to customs law and regulations. Certain transactions however, receive special treatment: low customs user fee or exemption.

Customs law and regulations

    Click here Customs Law (No. 04/94/NA) and its Regulations (No. 41/NA) where you will find detailed information and implementing applications.

Registration and licensing

    Import-export enterprise is required to follow procedures for import-export registration and licensing. For each import-export activity there will be certain document paper to be filled in, in accordance to import and export system .

    In order to promote export, the Government now eases registration and licensing procedure by allowing an exporter to contact directly with Department of Export in his/her province for paper work and assistance (before it was with the Ministry of Commerce alone).

Trade agreements

    Agreement on Free Trade Area. In ASEAN summit in Singapore, January 1992, ASEAN's members proposed AFTA where members can trade freer through reduction of tariff barriers and customs by all member countries by 2008. Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) is a tariff reduction mechanism to be used among ASEAN' members, from 40% down to between 0% and 5% in 2002/2003 (2006 for Vietnam, 2008 for Lao PDR and Myanmar, and 2010 for Cambodia). There are 4 types of product lists under CEPT: (1) Inclusion List, (2) Temporary List, (3) Sensitive List, and (4) General Exception List. Lao PDR proposed some products which fall under (2 ) Temporary Exclusion List, (3) Sensitive List and (4) General Exception List.

    In a longer term the ASEAN's members agreed to reduce tariff barriers to 0% for all imports by 2010 for old ASEAN's members and by 2015 for 4 new member countries.

Bilateral trade agreement

    Lao PDR entered into bilateral trade agreement with Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Russia, and European countries. The agreement aims at developing and strengthening trade relations of trading partners base on mutual benefits principles and equality. It specifies trade sectors that are having export potential of individual partners and it also specifies Generalized Special Preferential.

Accessing to World Trade Organization (WTO)