Laws and regulations

In a rare move, the National Police on Monday leveled accusations of illegal logging against a number of government-granted economic land concessions (ELCs) in the eastern province of Mondolkiri, singling out a Chinese-owned rubber plantation and wealthy businessman Soeng Sam Ol. ...

The introduction of the new traffic law has hit a few potholes, with some citizens complaining that it is too tough on poor families, while analysts say people in rural areas have been left in the dark about the new law’s requirements.  ...

A joint commission of 10 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties yesterday met for the first time to review the draft law on trade unions, and two of 21 articles that were flagged as controversial by unions have changed slightly. ...

The Siem Reap Provincial Court last week questioned a CPP village chief concurrently with a Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) commune chief after they signed documents allowing villagers to mortgage land claimed by the Apsara Authority, officials said on Monday, but charged and jailed only the ...

Factory owners and four jailed garment workers will be summoned today to appear at the Svay Rieng Provincial Court in the coming days to provide “clarification” over a series of walkouts and riots that struck two special economic zones (SEZs) in Bavet City last month, ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong yesterday lashed out at civil society groups he blamed for instigating protests aimed at destabilising the government. ...

Stricter controls on guns – including those carried by police – will be put in place following a spate of violent crimes involving firearms in recent weeks. ...

An ethnic Kuoy land rights activist was detained by police in Preah Vihear province on Monday after taking part in an ongoing protest against three businesses that villagers claim encroached on their farmland, officials said. ...

Stung Treng provincial governor Kol Sam Ol said on Tuesday that he had been replaced by his deputy, Mom Saroeun, and sent to work at the Interior Ministry in Phnom Penh. ...

Eight ethnic Jarai Montagnard Christians who fled alleged persecution in Vietnam and sought refuge in Cambodia are living in poor conditions, one of the refugees told Khmer Times yesterday.  ...

Police in Kompong Thom province on Monday arrested three men in a sting targeting sellers of looted, ancient statues, only to find that seven statues seized in the operation were in fact worthless copies of Buddhist artifacts, officials said. ...

Youth organizations and civil society organizations are calling on the Ministry of Health to push ahead with a proposed law regulating the sale of alcohol, saying that alcohol is damaging the country’s development.   ...

After more than a week traveling along remote forest trails in eastern Mondolkiri province, police and forestry officials transporting 30 large pieces of valuable timber seized from Vietnamese loggers earlier this month are expected to reach the end of their 120-km journey today, an official ...

A lawyer for two opposition lawmakers brutally beaten in front of the National Assembly two months ago appeared at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday on behalf of his clients, who earlier this month filed an attempted murder complaint against their attackers. ...

The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has charged an 11th person, a female garment worker, over violent protests that have rocked the Manhattan and Tai Seng special economic zones (SEZs) in Bavet City over the past week and a half. ...

About 70 officials raided four illegal gold mines in Kompong Thom province’s Sandan district on Wednesday but made no arrests as all the camps had been abandoned, officials said on Thursday. ...

As the new helmet laws go into effect on January first, with higher fines for not wearing one and a new requirement that motorcycle passengers also be helmeted, there is a push to publicize the dangers of riding without one. ...

More than 400 right-hand-drive cargo truck owners—who are requesting they be allowed to keep the illegal vehicles unmodified after paying import and road taxes—blocked busy Phnom Penh roads in protest on Wednesday morning. ...

More than 30,000 workers were evacuated from two special economic zones (SEZs) here Tuesday morning after police clashed with an unruly mob attempting to incite workers to join their call for higher wages. ...

The Ministry of Justice on Tuesday urged the commune authorities to resolve more civil disputes at the local level to avoid burdening the courts with unnecessary and costly proceedings. ...

The Environment Ministry has revoked the rights of a company owned by government lawmaker and tycoon Sieng Nam to manage the Kulen Mountain Resort in the Preah Bat Jayavarman-Nordom National Park in Siem Reap province, saying the move was in the national interest. ...

A guard at a guesthouse in central Phnom Penh is on the run after beating his colleague to death with a wooden chair leg in their shared bedroom on Monday morning, according to police and the family that owns the guesthouse. ...

Fifty-eight protesting workers from the Tai Seng special economic zone (SEZ) in Bavet City were arrested on Monday morning and released in the evening after agreeing not to use violence or damage property in the future, authorities said, the latest development in a bout of ...

The pickup truck that intentionally rear-ended a police motorbike in Kandal province on Saturday night —killing one officer and seriously injuring another—bore state license plates and has been used by an established timber smuggling outfit, officials said on Monday. ...