On April 2, the president of the Supreme Court issued further details and guidance on the handling of cases during the COVID-19 outbreak in Measures for Case Management according to the Declaration of an Emergency Situation between March 26, 2020, and April 30, 2020, in all areas of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Thai judiciary’s initial response to the crisis had come in an announcement on March 24, 2020, that postponed most hearings until the end of May 2020 and enumerated a list of exceptions to this postponement.

The Government Office of Vietnam recently announced the conclusions of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc regarding the combat of the COVID-19 pandemic following government meetings on April 20 and 22, 2020. Accordingly, the country has now moved into long-term epidemic combat, and thus needs to practice appropriate social distancing while facilitating the supply of goods and business development. As such, the strict social distancing guidelines under Directive No. 16/CT-TTg issued on March 31, 2020, have been lifted for most localities.

Most economists agree that the COVID-19 pandemic is hastening a global recession on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. As large-scale quarantines, business closures, and a sharp fall in consumer and business spending progress, they will inevitably spiral down to more corporate layoffs and bankruptcies.

On April 21, 2020, following the Prime Minister’s extension of the lockdown measures in Laos to May 3, the National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control (the Taskforce) issued guidance on what companies must do to be allowed to operate during the lockdown, entitled Instructions on the Conditions and Measures for Eligible Private Companies to Operate during the COVID-19 Outbreak. 

Laos’ Ministry of Finance previously announced that the submission deadline for 2019 financial reports was postponed from March 30, 2020, to April 30, 2020 (as detailed in our earlier alert, here), subject to further extensions that may be necessary as the COVID-19 situation developed. On April 21, 2020, the Ministry issued Notification No. 0764 which confirms an extension of that deadline to May 29, 2020.

On April 17, 2020, the Immigration Department of Laos’ Ministry of Public Security issued Notification No. 752, which states that, further to the extension of the lockdown measures by the Prime Minister (see here for more information), the Immigration Department will also extend the terms of Notification No.

In response to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the Indonesian Ministry of Health has implemented detailed guidelines for large-scale social restrictions (known as pembatasan sosial berskala besar  or PSBB). PSBB has been applied in two provinces so far—Jakarta and West Sumatra—and may be extended to others in due course. Although the restriction has wide ranging effects on many business sectors, IP owners are still able to exercise their rights by registering them through the online system of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP).