Law No. 01/99/NA on the Processing Industry. Country/Territory Lao, People's Dem. Rep. Document type Legislation Date 1999 Source FAO, FAOLEX Subject Agricultural & rural development, Forestry Keyword Processing/handling Subsidy/incentive Business/industry/corporations Offences/penalties Agro-forestry Forest management/forest conservation Geographical area Asia, Asia and the Pacific, Landlocked Developing Nations, Least Developed Countries, South-Eastern Asia Entry into force notes This Law enters into force ninety days from the date of the promulgating Decree (26 April 1999). Abstract This Law establishes principles, regulations, and measures relating to the establishment, operations, and administration of industrial and handicrafts processing activities in order to expand the processing and handicrafts industry, [and] interrelate the processing industry with agro-forestry, transform the natural economy of farmers into a goods-based economy, interrelate the economic structures of the agro-forestry, industry and services [sectors] to increase the living standards of the multi-ethnic people. The processing industry refers to industry and handicrafts involving factory operations that transform raw materials or semi-finished products from their original state into a new product by mechanical means or by manual labour, whether within a factory setting or in any workplace where products can be distributed as [commercial] goods. The State promotes all sectors of the economy to invest in industrial and handicrafts processing to produce consumer goods domestically to serve as import substitutes and to produce export goods by employing domestic raw materials, primarily: raw materials from agriculture and from forestry. In addition, the State determines tax and duty privileges that provide incentives for industrial and handicrafts processing operations, primarily for those operations that the government considers to have high priority. Full text English Website www.mfa.gov.sg