LOI - Le permis de travail : où, quand, comment et combien

18 août 2014, Emmanuel SCHEFFER, Petitjournal.com

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"Depuis plus d’un an, le gouvernement avait fait passer le message, relève Antoine Fontaine, co-fondateur du cabinet d’avocats Bun & Associated, le permis de travail concerne tout le monde sauf les ambassades, les fonctionnaires et les domestiques. Le droit du travail s’applique à toutes les personnes vivant au Cambodge, le statut d’expatrié n’existe pas". La démarche est plutôt simple, mais elle a un coût, surtout si l’étranger travaille depuis longtemps au Cambodge, car la loi est rétroactive. Ce n’est pas au salarié mais à la direction de l’entreprise de faire la demande du permis de travail. Toute société, quel que soit son secteur d’activité doit s’enregistrer au ministère du travail, si toutefois celle-ci est déjà enregistrée au ministère référant à son activité (en savoir plus). 

Authorities to Enforce Expat Work Permits

31 July 2014, Sun Heng, Cambodai Daily

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Authorities have begun enforcing a decade-old law that requires foreigners working in Cambodia to have a valid work permit in addition to a work visa, an immigration official confirmed Wednesday.

“We’ve been implementing this for about a month,” said Nov Leakhana, deputy director general of the Ministry of Interior’s general department of immigration.

The move comes after the creation of the department in April.

“We had the law, but we could not fine because we didn’t have the [permission] from the Ministry of Finance. After the creation of the general department of immigration on April 1, we have the [permission],” he said.

A work permit is separate from a work visa and costs 400,000 riel, or about $100. (continued)

Telecom law grants ‘police powers’

15 August 2014, Eddie Morton, PhnomPenh Post

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Private-sector representatives today are to conclude a two-day consultation forum with the government over the controversial new draft telecommunications law.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications’ (MPT) yet-to-be-approved draft law includes provisions that grant the ministry judicial powers to indict telecom service-related operators and even everyday users of communications devices over breaches of the proposed laws, according to an unofficially translated version of the confidential document.

“The officials of the MPT and the [Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia] have a legal status as judicial police officers with a function as specified in the Code of Criminal Procedures on the function of judicial police,” the draft law states. (continued)

Draft law indicates heightened expropriation risks in Cambodia's telecoms sector

IHS Jane's Intelligence Weekly

22 July 2014

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EVENT

On 24 July what appeared to be a draft telecommunications law was apparently leaked from the Cambodian Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC), detailing a government plan to take greater control over the sector.

According to Phnom Penh Post , which reportedly received the draft from an unnamed source, the 31-page 100-article Khmer-language document stated that no company can both operate infrastructure assets and also provide telecoms services, such as telephone, radio, television and internet.

If the supposed draft law is submitted and approved by the ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP)-dominated National Assembly in its current form, telecoms companies that want to retain their retail operations would be required to sell their infrastructure assets and rely on what the government-controlled infrastructure provides, the Phnom Penh Post reported. The draft law also reportedly stated that the "ministry will use the telecom sector as a tool to maintain social order".

FORECAST

The draft law is likely to be politically motivated. This is because the law would ensure the government, which has agreed to grant the opposition access to television and radio station licences as part of the deal to end the year-long political deadlock following disputed July 2013 elections, has the final control. If approved, the law would significantly increase expropriation and contract frustration risks for both domestic and international telecoms companies with operations in Cambodia, as it is likely to involve a reassessment of all telecoms licences. The approval of the draft law, which has been labelled as a draconian effort to nationalise the industry by Cambodian telecommunication companies according to the Phnom Penh Post , would be an unprecedented move by the government. Expropriation to date has been confined almost exclusively to land and property of domestic entities and as ownership of the former is barred to foreign nationals and access to the latter is restricted this has not been a major problem for overseas investors operating within the country's legal system.

http://www.janes.com/article/41213/draft-law-indicates-heightened-expropriation-risks-in-cambodia-s-telecoms-sector

In Cambodia, Criminal Defamation Law Is Broad

On July 24, 2014, a British expat living in Cambodia was convicted of defamation in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for statements published on his personal blog relating to the director of a private investment firm. The case has implications for anyone doing business in the region and serves as an important reminder that, despite recent reforms, defamation remains a crime in certain pockets of Southeast Asia (continued).

Cambodia’s draft chemicals management law under review

Published on 12 August 2014, http://chemicalwatch.com/20846/cambodias-draft-chemicals-management-law-under-review

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Cambodia's Ministry of Environment (MoE) has confirmed that its draft chemicals management law is still being debated by the country's Council of Ministers (CW 7 February 2012). All relevant ministries including the MoE, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health are currently checking and revising the draft. When this work is done, the proposed legislation will be submitted to the National Assembly for its approval. The final step requires the law to be approved by Cambodia's Senate.

The MoE says the current political situation has slowed adoption of the law, adding that there is no schedule for submitting the draft to the National Assembly. However, a deal reached last month between prime minister Hun Sen and the opposition, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), will see the CNRP returning to parliament. It has been boycotting parliament since last July’s disputed election. 

Cambodia's draft framework law on chemical management was developed through the Quick Start Programme (QSP) of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm). In June, a review of the role of Saicm in Cambodia was presented at the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) in Geneva.

Saicm's report says that the status of Cambodia's draft framework law on chemicals management is "still unclear.”  It notes that both Cambodian stakeholders and implementing agencies have estimated that implementing the new law “will be very demanding” and the resources needed are currently lacking.

Further information on CW+AsiaHub

Rachel Arputharajoo-Middleton