Law making process

The draft of the new Law on the Chamber of Commerce is again being reviewed by the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC). Once the proposed changes to the draft are completed, the law will be sent to the Council of Ministers for further discussion and approval, ...

A proposed access-to-information law more than a decade in the making was unveiled to the public yesterday, with just one item left to finalise – punishments for officials who refuse to disclose public information. ...

The Ministry of Justice today confirmed that a proposed lèse majesté law would be among a series of legal amendments considered by the Constitutional Council on Friday. ...

The Constitutional Council is planning to meet later this week to discuss amendments to the Constitution, including changes to an article guaranteeing the right for citizens to form organisations and political parties. ...

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party member Yin Bunnang will take the seat of recently deceased lawmaker Im Sethy, representing Kampong Cham province, the National Assembly announced yesterday. The assembly also selected a lawmaker to replace Sethy on the justice commission. ...

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) boss Om Yentieng has said the Kingdom’s whistleblower and witness protection draft law was nearly complete, while at the same time lashing out at Transparency International Cambodia for not assisting in the process, something the group flatly denied. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng held a meeting with other top ministry officials yesterday to discuss introducing a legal amendment banning insults to the King, similar to so-called “lèse-majesté” laws in Thailand, which critics have characterised as a cudgel to suppress dissent. ...

The Ministry of Commerce and other relevant ministries will meet later this month to review progress on the country’s first consumer protection law and formulate a plan to complete the draft legislation, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

The government has appointed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to draft a law to crack down on illegal activity surrounding the recently banned commercial surrogacy industry in Cambodia. Ministry spokeswoman Kheng Sam Vada confirmed the news, which was originally announced by government spokesperson and Minister of ...

The ban on surrogate pregnancies announced by the health minister on Monday will remain in place until the government drafts a law protecting Cambodian women giving birth to the children of other parents, an official said on Thursday. ...

Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Council of Ministers announced yesterday that a draft consumer protection law, which is intended to ensure that food and consumer products made domestically or imported into Cambodia are safe, was almost complete. A quarter of the almost 60 ...

The National Assembly yesterday passed a contentious trade union law, just hours after a group of pro-union demonstrators and Daun Penh district security guards clashed violently outside. ...

Unions yesterday called for further discussion of the draft trade union law after a bipartisan committee tasked with examining the controversial legislation concluded on Tuesday having agreed to few substantive changes. ...

The National Assembly has announced the formation of a bipartisan working group, first promised earlier this month, to examine the controversial draft trade union law.The working group, which was established on Wednesday, is composed of five opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party members and five members ...

The government is failing to enforce, or even make landlords and tenants aware of, the new rent-control law, even as rents begin to creep up in anticipation of garment workers receiving their annual wage raise next month, labour advocates say.The legislation, which went into effect ...

Rights and development groups say a draft law on access to information will be more useful to the public if it has input from outside the government.A number of civil society organizations met in Phnom Penh this week to discuss the law, in hopes of ...

For the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.On Monday, lawmakers for the ruling party passed the country’s new $4.3m national budget — at least the third time in two years the opposition has gifted the CPP the chance to ...

A bitter dispute over the development of the main market in Ratanakkiri province’s Banlung City, which has pitted the city’s governor against a well-connected CPP lawmaker, was resolved by the Council of Ministers earlier this month in favor of the complainant, a wealthy businessman who ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng held a “solidarity dinner” with some 500 traffic police on Wednesday, ordering them to be strong in dealing with infringing motorists ahead of the implementation of the new Land Traffic Law, officials said Friday. ...

The Ministry of Environment today held a workshop to collect inputs from all stakeholders for drafting the environmental code for orienting Cambodia in walking in the right way, and reflecting the people’ need. ...

Information minister Khieu Kanharith said the law on Access to Information has been drafted to serve not only the journalists, but it’s for all Cambodians as well as foreigners working and doing business in Cambodia. ...

The Ministry of the National Assembly-Senate Relation and Inspection today held a meeting at Cambodiana hotel, discussing on a new draft law on inspection before sending to the Council of Ministers. ...

The Constitutional Council of Cambodia on Wednesday deemed new legislation regulating the country’s non-governmental organizations to be in full compliance with the Constitution, rejecting all arguments—from the U.N. down to the NGOs themselves—that it flies in the face of the highest law of the land. ...

The Constitutional Council has officially accepted the contentious Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations, which would tighten regulations on thousands of organizations in the country in what critics fear could mean a major crackdown on basic freedoms and government criticism. ...