Attorneys from Tilleke & Gibbins in Myanmar have contributed to the latest edition of Practical Law’s online Life Sciences Global Guide. The guide is a Q&A-style overview of the regulatory frameworks for the life sciences industry across multiple jurisdictions worldwide, and this year the Myanmar chapter includes two sections, one of which is “Pharmaceutical IP and Competition Law in Myanmar.” This section runs through the country’s legal and regulatory environment for patents and trademarks—particularly as they relate to pharmaceutical business in the jurisdiction. The section then turns to IP and competition law issues, with questions and answers focusing on how the country’s competition laws and regulations affect the pharmaceutical sector. Readers are also given information on how to properly comply with Myanmar law on competition, including when it comes to licensing of medicines and pharmaceutical technology. The full Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property and Competition Law in Myanmar guide can be accessed on the Practical Law website. Practical Law, produced by Thomson Reuters, is the world’s leading legal know-how resource for business lawyers, publishing a huge range of guides covering hundreds of jurisdictions and practice areas. Tilleke & Gibbins also supplied the “Medicinal Product Regulation and Product Liability in Myanmar,” which Practical Law published in its Life Sciences Global Guide  at the same time.

The liberalization of Myanmar’s insurance industry continues apace as the IBRB invites further expressions of interest for life and non-life insurance business licenses.

Members of Tilleke & Gibbins’ technology team contributed the Vietnam chapter of the recently published Data Protection Laws of the World (10th Edition), a widely consulted handbook to privacy and data protection laws across more than 100 different jurisdictions.

On January 26, 2021, the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) published Notification 1/2021 in relation to non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs). This notification, which took immediate effect and has far-reaching implications for NBFI operations in Myanmar, applies to NBFIs wishing to conduct finance company business, leasing business, or factoring business, which are defined in the Financial Institutions Law (2016) (FIL) as follows: Finance company business is “business engaging primarily in financing the purchase of goods or services with funding other than deposits from the public.” Interest would be charged on such finance. Leasing business is “the business of letting or sub-letting movable property on hire, regardless whether the letting is with or without an option to purchase the property.” An obvious example would be vehicle leasing. Factoring business is “the business of financing accounts receivables.” This is when a business sells its accounts receivable at a discount. The key provisions of the notification are summarized below. NBFI Registration To conduct any of the above businesses, an individual or company must apply for a registration certificate from the CBM by submitting the documents specified in the notification. The registration certificate may come with terms and conditions prescribed by the CBM on a case-by-case basis. It seems likely that these terms and conditions could include minimum capital requirements, but this remains to be seen. Trading as an NBFI without a CBM certificate is punishable by two to five years imprisonment and a fine of MMK 500 million (approx. USD 375,000). NBFI Certificate Revocation The CBM has extensive powers to revoke the NBFI certificate in certain circumstances, including failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the registration certificate; conducting non-NBFI business; conducting business in a manner detrimental to the interests of consumers; failure to comply with anti-money laundering or counter terrorism laws and regulations; and so on. Prohibition on Deposit Acceptance The

In 2019, Thailand introduced an online system for payment of stamp duty (e-Stamp Duty) and a requirement for e-Stamp Duty to be paid on the following five instruments when executed electronically (e-Instruments): hire of work service instrument; loan instrument or bank overdraft instrument; powers of attorney (POA); proxy letters for voting at company meetings; and guarantee instrument. However, given the strict financial penalties on those who fail to pay stamp duty, the government implemented a grace period until December 31, 2020, to allow people to become familiar with the e-Stamp Duty system before the requirement is strictly enforced. During the grace period, taxpayers could pay stamp duty for the five e-Instruments at an area revenue office, rather than via the e-Stamp Duty system, and could also pay stamp duty for traditional paper versions of those five instruments through the e-Stamp Duty system. On January 19, 2021, the Revenue Department issued Notifications of the Director-General of Revenue Re: Stamp Duty (Nos. 61 and 62) B.E. 2564 (2021) further extending that grace period until December 31, 2021. The following table summarizes the revised methods of stamp duty payments available for the five instrument categories mentioned above under the new notifications. The e-Stamp Duty system allows taxpayers to pay stamp duty online by filing the prescribed form (Form Or.Sor.9) through (i) the website of the Revenue Department (www.rd.go.th), or (ii) the Application Programming Interface (API) of the Revenue Department before or within 15 days from the date of instrument execution. Taxpayers can currently file a request to pay for e-Stamp Duty no earlier than 30 days before the date of instrument execution. Taxpayers should note that the e-Stamp Duty system does not currently support late payment. Therefore, late filing and stamp duty payments will have to be made at an area revenue office. For more information about stamp duty, or any aspect of tax

On January 1, 2021, the government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP dated December 30, 2020, providing guidance concerning foreigners working in Vietnam (Decree 152). Foreign investors and expatriates should be aware of some notable new points.

The renewed spread of COVID-19 in Thailand since December 2020 has led to additional tax relief measures to lessen the economic impact of the outbreak. Most recently, it has prompted the Ministry of Finance to propose a draft Royal Decree on Land and Building Tax Reduction B.E. 2564 (2021), which is expected to be similar to the 2020 measures that reduced land and building tax payments by 90 percent. In the meantime, on January 21, 2020, the Ministry of Interior announced an extension for the payment of land and building tax in 2021, which is now due by June 30, 2021 (extended from April 30, 2021). In light of the new land and building tax payment deadline for 2021, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, or the relevant municipality or local administrative office, will now send land and building tax assessment forms to taxpayers by April 30, 2021 (extended from February 28, 2021). For more details on these measures, or on any aspect of Thailand’s land and building tax, please contact Chaiwat Keratisuthisathorn at [email protected] or +66 2056 5507.

Thailand’s Department of Business Development (DBD) has released a new notification to emphasize and encourage the online issuance of company affidavits and certification of corporate documents, in an effort to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in Thailand. This notification, which was announced on January 7, came into effect on January 11, 2021. The new notification repeals and replaces a similar DBD notification issued on April 10, 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, and notes that requests to issue company affidavits and certify corporate documents can be processed through the DBD’s e-service system via the DBD website (www.dbd.go.th). In using this online system, applicants can choose to receive the documents either as PDF e-certificates or in paper form. The digital signature of the relevant DBD official will appear on the documents using a public key infrastructure (PKI) encryption—an accepted cryptographic practice that binds digital identifiers to people and organizations and verifies any amendments to the information or digital signature. In accordance with Thailand’s laws on electronic signatures, a digital signature by a DBD official is deemed as legitimate as an ink signature on paper. The authenticity of both electronic and paper documents issued by the DBD can be verified via the document’s QR code and through the reference number at the bottom of the document. For paper documents, the authenticity can also be verified by checking the micro-text (which is illegible when photocopied), and the DBD watermark (which disappears or becomes obscured when photocopied). Anyone can verify a legal entity’s current information on the DBD’s website through the “DBD DataWarehouse+” or “DBD Service” portals. The DBD e-certificate service described in the new notification is now available for public use. Even though the DBD had already introduced an online system for this service in 2020, the new notification highlights this implementation to encourage wider