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LAWS
Investment, Trade Regulation, Law
on Taxation,
Labor Law, Law on insurance, Land and construction,
Law on foreign exchange foreign, Law on marriage & family, Trademark Law
The National Assembly
Kingdom of Cambodia
Law on the Investment
of the Kingdom of Cambodia
CHAPTER I
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CHAPTER III
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CHAPTER IV
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CHAPTER V
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CHAPTER VI
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CHAPTER VII
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CHAPTER VIII
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CHAPTER IX
This law is adopted by the National Assembly in Phnom Penh
on August 4, 1994 during the extraordinary session of the first legislature.
Chapter I
General Provisions
Article 1
This Law governs all investments projects made by investors
who are Cambodian citizens and/or foreigners within the
Kingdom of Cambodia.
Article 2
Investor can be either a natural person or a legal entity.
Article 3
The Council for the Development of Cambodia is the sole and
one-stop service organization responsible for the
rehabilitation, development and the oversight of investment
activities. The Council for the Development of Cambodia is the
Royal Government’s "Etat-Major" responsible for the evaluation
and the decision making on all rehabilitation, development and
investment project activities.
Article 4
The Council for the Development of Cambodia comprises the
following two operational Boards:
1. The Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board
2. The Cambodian Investment Board
Article 5
The organization and functioning of the Council for the
Development of Cambodia shall be mentioned by Sub-Decree.
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Chapter
III
Investment Procedures
Article 6
Investors have to submit investment applications to the
Council for the Development of Cambodia for review and decision.
Article 7
The Council for the Development of Cambodia shall provide a
response as to its decision to all investor/applicants within
a period of a maximum of forty five (45) days following the
date of submission of the complete investment application.
If without proper justification, any Government officials
who refuse to review and respond to investors application past
the above mentioned period of time shall be punished by law.
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Chapter IV
Investment Guarantees
Article 8
Investors shall be treated in a non-discriminatory manner as set
by law, except for ownership of land as set forth in the
Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Article 9
The Royal Government shall not undertake nationalization policy
which shall adversely affect private properties of investors in the
Kingdom of Cambodia.
Article 10
The Royal Government shall not impose price control on the
products or services of investors who have received prior approval
from the Government.
Article 11
In accordance with the relevant laws and regulations issued and
published to the public by the National Bank of Cambodia, the Royal
Government shall permit investors with investments in Cambodia to
purchase foreign currencies through the banking system and to remit
abroad these currencies for the discharge of financial obligations
incurred in connection with their investments. This concerns the
following payments:
1. Payment for imports and repayment of principal and
interest on international loans.
2. Payment of royalties and management fees;
3. Remittance of profits;
4. Repatriation of invested capital in compliance with
Chapter 8.
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Chapter V
Investment Incentives
Article 12
The Royal Government shall make available incentives to encourage
investments in such important fields as :
1. Pioneer and/or high technology industries,
2. Job creation,
3. Export-oriented,
4. Tourism industry,
5. Agro-industry and Transformation industry,
6. Physical infrastructure and energy,
7. Provincial and rural development,
8. Environmental protection, and
9. Investments in Special Promotion Zone (SPZ) as shall be
created byLaw.
Article 13
Incentives shall include the exemption, in whole or in part, of
duties and taxes.
Article 14
Incentives shall consist of the following:
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1. A corporate tax rate of 9% except the tax rate on
the exploration and exploitation of natural resources, timber, oil,
mines, gold, and precious stones which shall be set in other laws.
2. A corporate tax exemption of up to 8 years
depending on the characteristics of the project and the priority of
the government which shall be mentioned in a Sub-Decree. Corporate
tax exemption shall take effect beginning from the year the project
derives its first profit. A 5-year loss-carried forward shall be
allowed. In the event the profits are being reinvested in the
country, such profits shall be exempted from all corporate tax.
3. Non-taxation on the distribution of dividends or
profits or proceeds of investments, whether they will be transferred
abroad or distributed in the country.
4. 100% import duties exemption on construction
materials, means of production, equipments, intermediate
goods, raw materials and spare parts used by:
An export-oriented project with a minimum of 80% of the
production set apart for export, and Located in a designated
Special Promotion Zone (SPZ) listed in a development priority
list issued by the Council; Tourism industry Labour-intensive
industry, transformation industry, agro-industry, Physical
Infrastructure and energy industry These 100% exemption of
duties and taxes mentioned above shall be in effect according
to the terms of the agreement or requirement book of the
investment projects which will produce goods for export in
minimum of 80% of overall productivities as stipulated in the
above point (4) a and for the investment projects which
located in Special promotion Zone ( SPZ ) as in (4) b.
Beside the kinds of investment projects in the
above points (4) a and (4) b the 100% exemption of duties and
taxes shall only be authorized for an arrangement of
construction period of enterprises, factories, building and
the first year of operation of business production.
5. 100% exemption of export tax, if any;
6. The permission to bring into the Kingdom of
Cambodia foreign nationals who are:
Management personnel and experts
Technical personnel
Skilled workers
Spouses and dependents of the above persons as authorized by the
Council for Development of Cambodia and in compliance with the
immigration and labour law.
Article 15
The approval and incentives granted by the Council for
Development of Cambodia shall not be transferred or assigned
to any third parties.
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Chapter VI
Land Ownership and Use
Article 16
In accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws and
regulations pertaining to the ownership and use of land:
1. Ownership of land for the purpose of carrying on
promoted investment activities shall be vested only in natural
persons holding Cambodian citizenship or in legal entities in which
more than 51% of the equity capital are directly owned by natural
persons or legal entities holding Cambodian citizenship.
2. Use of land shall be permitted to investors,
including long-term leases of up to a period of 70 years,
renewable upon request. Upon such use may include the right of
ownership of real and personal property situated on the land
as may be permitted by the law.
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Chapter VII
Employment Practices
Article 17
Investors in the Kingdom of Cambodia shall be free to hire
Cambodian nationals and foreign nationals of their choosing in
compliance with the labour and immigration law.
Article 18
The investors shall be allowed to hire foreign employees who are
listed in Article 14 (6) provided that :
1. The qualification and expertise are not available
in the Kingdom of Cambodia among the Cambodian populace. In the
event of such hiring, appropriate documentation including the
photocopies of the employee’s passport, certificate and/or degree,
and a curriculum vitae shall be submitted to the Council;
2. Investors shall have the obligation to provide
adequate and consistent training to Cambodian employees,
3. Promotion of Cambodian staff to senior positions
will be made over time;
Article 19
Foreign employees shall be allowed to remit abroad their wages and
salaries earned in the Kingdom, after payment of appropriate tax, in
foreign currencies obtained through the banking system.
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Chapter VIII
Disputes and Dissolution
Article 20
Any dispute relating to a promoted investment established in
the Kingdom by a Cambodian or a foreign national concerning
its rights and obligations set forth in the Law shall be
settled amicably as far as possible through consultation
between the parties in dispute.
Should the parties failed to reach an amicable settlement
within two month from the date of the first written request to
enter such consultations, the dispute shall be brought by
either party for: conciliation before the Council which shall
provide its opinion or refer the matter to the court of the
Kingdom of Cambodia, or refer to any international rules to
settle the disputes as agreed by both parties.
Article 21
In the event a promoted company intend to end its activity in the
Kingdom of Cambodia, it will have to inform the Council through
either a registered letter or a hand delivered letter stating the
reasons of such a decision, which letter shall be signed by the
investor or his attorney-in fact.
Article 22
In the event of a proposal for a dissolution of a company
without judicial procedures, the investor shall provide proofs
to the Council that the company has properly settled its
potential creditors, complainants and claims from the Ministry
of Economy and Finance before the investor is allowed to
officially dissolve his company or enterprise according to the
applicable commercial law.
Article 23
Once the investor is allowed to offically dissolve his
company or enterprise either within the judicial procedures or
not, the investor can transfer the remaining proceeds of its
assets overseas or use them in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
However, in the event that the dissolving company had used
machineries and equipment which were imported duty free for
less than five years, the company will have the obligations to
pay the duties applicable to those machineries and equipment.
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Chapter IX
Final
Provisions
Article 24
Investments authorized under the previous “Law on Investment†|