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).

Tilleke & Gibbins has recently updated the Myanmar section of Practical Law’s Employment and Employee Benefits Global Guide , a Thomson Reuters Practical Law online publication that provides an overview of employment and employee benefits in jurisdictions worldwide.

Implementing recent cabinet resolutions to introduce social security relief measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, on April 17, 2020, Thailand’s Ministry of Labor published two regulations under the Social Security Act (SSA) in the Government Gazette: