Ministry of Industry and Commerce Department of Foreign Trade Policy Component A – Trade Facilitation, Trade Policy and Regulations Implementation Progress and Work Plan Activities for FY 2017 The 3rd Project Review Committee Meeting for TDF II Project By Mr. Bountheung DOUANGSAVANH, Deputy Director-General, FTPD 16 November 2016

Contents: Major progress of last year Trade in Services Trade in Goods 2. Key challenge and need 3. Work plan for FY 2017

1. Major progress A3. Trade in Services Horizontal Regulatory Assessment (HRA): The newly appointed Trade Policy Advisor, in close cooperation with FTPD, is working on identifying priority recommendations, in particular those related to WTO and ASEAN commitments under the regulatory purview of MoIC in order to develop a detailed action plan. Telecommunication: Key regulations for licensing framework are approved (business licensing, inter- connections, numbering, competition, and spectrum management). The work on setting-up Lao Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (LTRA) is on- going and a draft Decree to establish LTRA has been prepared for approval. FTPD has contributed comments on such draft Decree and MPT is now gathering comments from relevant agencies to finalize it.

1. Major progress (Cont.) Insurance: The Ministerial Guideline on Insurance Business Operating License was adopted on 21 March 2016. Good progress has been made on setting-up an Insurance Association, for which a statute for its establishment has already been sent to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for consideration. Under support from Fund Challenge Facility, consultants have been hired and are now assisting State-owned Enterprises Investment Management and Insurance Department, Ministry of Finance (MoF), with reviewing Insurance Law and prioritizing key Insurance regulations identified in the final report to be developed. 

1. Major Progress (Cont.) Professional Services: Accountancy services Laws and regulations related to Accountancy Services have been reviewed and translated. On 04 November 2016, Accountancy Department, MoF, in collaboration with consultants organized a workshop on ASEAN CPA registration and education process with 30 participants from Accountancy Department, Monitoring and LCPAA Educational Committees. The department and consultants will also organise another workshop in January 2017 on the Guideline on Aptitude Test for foreign membership. The expecting participants for this workshop are foreign members and related parties which is about 40 people.

1. Major progress (Cont.) Other MRAs: Surveying services FTPD has reached out to National Geographic Department, MHA, to assist them in implementing the MRA on surveying services, especially in strengthening their regulatory capacity. Both departments have discussed and included the activities to be supported with the project available resources in FTPD’s Work Plan for next fiscal year. Services Trade and Investment Portal (STIP): The initial design of STIP has been developed and presented on the workshop on 08 June 2016 and FTPD is now working with consultants and Cyberia to build the portal. The Information Technology Implementation Plan Report is submitted to NIU.  

1. Major progress (Cont.) STIP (Cont.): There are totally 294 laws and regulation in our database, 121 laws are available in English, 62 of which have been translated by FTPD, while 59 have been provided by DFDL. Second batch of translation of regulations are approved by NIU and under translation process (expected to be finished by end of November 2016) and third batch is under the preparation to be sent to NIU. The Ministry Decision on Focal Point for STIP is drafted and will be circulated shortly for comments.  The focus is on finalizing the specification report and classifying services measures.

1. Major progress (Cont.) A4. Trade in Goods Trade remedies (Law on Safeguards) The mass consultations at provincial level have been completed in October 2016. The drafting committee has revised the draft to reflect the comments gathered from the provinces. The mass consultation at central level will be held on 21 November 2016 to finalize the daft Law before submitting to Ministry of Justice by end of the same month. The draft Law is expected to be submitted to and discussed at the National Assembly session in April 2017.

1. Major progress (Cont.) Further Strengthening of SPS Legal Framework. . The Plant Protection, and the Livestock Law have been already submitted to the National Assembly for discussion in this October – November session. The Livestock Law was discussed and approved on 11 November 2016, while the Plant Protection Law is scheduled on 15 November 2016. FTPD is reviewing the last drafts of both laws with FAO’s SPS expert’s general observations/comments and will further discuss with concerned departments to ensure the technical qualities and compliance with international standards of these final Laws. The notifications on the draft Ministerial Decision on the Import and Transit of Plants, Terrestrial Animals and their Products, have been prepared and shared with concerned departments for their acknowledgement/comments before sending out to the WTO.

2. Key challenge and need Challenge: FTPD, as the focal point, in charge of ensuring coordination and promoting economic integration towards AEC, has limited human resources for handling both a number of preparatory works to support this year ASEAN Chairmanship and the activities under TDF2. This resulted in a delay in the implementation of several activities outlined in the work plan. Need: There are on-going needs for technical capacity building for relevant MoIC officials and concerned ministries in the area of trade in goods and trade in services, in particular regarding the sector specific commitments to ensure effective implementation of trade related commitments by Lao PDR.

3. Work plan for FY 2107 Key activities of the next fiscal year:   Key activities of the next fiscal year: Continue to support MPT on activities related to setting-up LTRA, especially consultation meetings to finalize the draft Decree. Continue to support MoF on improving Insurance related regulations and implementation of MRA on Accounting services. Continue implementing activities regarding improving access to services regulation (STIP), work on drafting Law on Safeguards and strengthening SPS legal framework. Support MHA on implementation of MRA on Surveying services. Support inter-ministerial consultation meetings related to Lao PDR participation and negotiation in Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN economic meetings and other related meetings. Support dissemination workshops (public forum on 4th anniversary of Laos’ accession to WTO and International economic integration).

Thank you for your attention! Ministry of Industry and Commerce Department of Foreign Trade Policy Component A – Trade Facilitation, Trade Policy and Regulations Thank you for your attention!