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Foreign businesses complain about the inconsistencies in the application of laws and policies from different regulatory authorities. There are no rules or regulations in place that discriminate specifically against U.
The SECP is the main regulatory body for foreign companies operating in Pakistan, but it is not the sole regulator. Each body has independent management but all must submit draft regulatory or policy changes through the Ministry of Law and Justice before any proposed rules or regulations may be submitted to parliament or, in some cases, the executive branch. The SECP is authorized to establish accounting standards for companies in Pakistan, however, execution and implementation of those standards is poor.
Pakistan has adopted most, though not all, International Financial Reporting Standards. Most draft legislation is made available for public comment but there is no centralized body to collect public responses. The relevant authorities, usually the ministry under which a law may fall, gathers public comments, if it deems it necessary; otherwise legislation is directly submitted by the government to the legislative branch.
For business and investment laws and regulations, the Ministry of Commerce relies on stakeholder feedback obtained from local chambers and associations — such as the American Business Council ABC and Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry OICCI — rather than publishing regulations online for public review.
There is no centralized online location where key regulatory actions are published. Different regulators publish their regulations and implementing actions on their respective websites. However, in most cases, regulatory implementing actions are not published online. These forums are designed to ensure the government follows required administrative processes.
Pakistan did not announce any enforcement reforms during the last year. However, delayed legislative amendments in IP laws restricts full and effective implementation of such rules. Enforcement processes are legally reviewable — initially by specialized IP Tribunals, but also through the High and Supreme Courts of Pakistan.
The government does not publicly disclose the terms of bilateral debt obligations. However, there is no regional cooperation between Pakistan and other member nations on regulatory development or implementation. Pakistan notifies all draft technical regulations to the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade, albeit at times with significant delays. Laws governing domestic or personal matters are strongly influenced by Islamic Sharia law. Regulations and enforcement actions may be appealed through the court system.
The lower courts are composed of civil and criminal district courts, as well as various specialized courts, including courts devoted to banking, intellectual property, customs and excise, tax law, environmental law, consumer protection, insurance, and cases of corruption. The lower judiciary is influenced by the executive branch and seen as lacking competence and fairness. It currently faces a significant backlog of unresolved cases.
British legal decisions, under some circumstances, are also been cited in court rulings. However, the reality is different, as the military wields significant influence over the judicial branch. However, fear of contempt of court proceedings inhibit businesses and the public generally from reporting on perceived weaknesses of the judicial process.
Regulations and enforcement actions are appealable. Specialized tribunals and departmental adjudication authorities are the primary forum for such appeals. Decisions made by a tribunal or adjudication authority may be appealed to a high court and then to the Supreme Court. In the education, health, and infrastructure sectors, percent foreign ownership is allowed.
In the agricultural sector, the threshold is 60 percent, with an exception for corporate agriculture farming, where percent ownership is allowed. While there are no regulatory requirements on the residency status of company directors, the chief executive must reside in Pakistan to conduct day-to-day operations.
If the chief executive is not a Pakistani national, she or he is required to obtain a multiple-entry work visa. Corporations operating in Pakistan are statutorily required to retain full-time audit services and legal representation. No new law, regulation, or judicial decision was announced or went into effect during the last year which would be significant to foreign investors. Competition and Antitrust Laws Established in , the Competition Commission of Pakistan CCP is designed to ensure private and public sector organizations are not involved in any anti-competitive or monopolistic practices.
Complaints regarding anti-competitive practices can be lodged with CCP, which conducts the investigation and is legally empowered to impose penalties; complaints are reviewable by the CCP appellate tribunal in Islamabad and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The CCP appellate tribunal is required to issue decisions on any anti-competitive practice within six months from the date in which it becomes aware of the practice.
The CCP is currently investigating a cement sector cartel. The CCP generally adheres to transparent norms and procedures. Pakistan does not have a strong history of expropriation. The BITs include binding international arbitration of investment disputes. The FBR has not granted a requested waiver from the parties, continuing to bar their export. According to the Expression of Interest, the CDA would provide the land on a year lease to the highest bidder, on agreed yearly payments.
The company was selected, entered into a lease agreement for approximately , square yards, and made regular payments to CDA. Upon taking possession of the land, the company determined that the land area was less than the area agreed in the lease contract. CDA was unsuccessful in clearing access to the leased land due to unlawful encroachment by local dwellers. Since , the company has attempted to have CDA either clear the land or reimburse the company its lease payments with interest.
A large U. The company purchased the Pakistani operations in , which included business entities in the U. In the past, the Finance Ministry has held that proceeds from the sale of its Pakistani interests could not be repatriated because they were earned prior to the liberalization of the foreign exchange regime in Local courts do not recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards issued against the government.
Any award involving domestic enforcement component needs an additional affirmative ruling from a local court. There is no history of extrajudicial action against foreign investors. International Commercial Arbitration and Foreign Courts Arbitration and special judicial tribunals do exist as alternative dispute resolution ADR mechanisms for settling disputes between two private parties. To mitigate such risks, most foreign investors include contract provisions that provide for international arbitration.
Special tribunals are able to address taxation, banking, labor, and IPR enforcement disputes. However, foreign investors lament the lack of clear, transparent, and timely investment dispute mechanisms. Protracted arbitration cases are a major concern. Pakistani courts have not upheld some international arbitration awards.
Any such award, involving local enforcement, requires direction from a local court. The Reko Diq mining dispute is an example where an international arbitral award against Pakistan was not enforced by local Pakistani courts and remains unresolved. In the Pakistan Steel Case, the Supreme Court struck down the contract between the Privatization Commission of Pakistan and the foreign investor who won the bid.
The Supreme Court decided the bidder should have furnished a guarantee that it would make future investments to raise production capacity. Despite the fact that this was not a condition specified in the bid documents, the Supreme Court invalidated the contract. Bankruptcy Regulations Pakistan does not have a single, comprehensive bankruptcy law. Foreclosures are governed under the Companies Act and administered by the SECP, while the Banking Companies Ordinance of governs liquidations of banks and financial institutions.
On average, Pakistan requires 2. The Companies Act regulates mergers and acquisitions. Mergers are allowed between international companies, as well as between international and local companies. In , the government enacted legislation for friendly and hostile takeovers. The law requires companies to disclose any concentration of share ownership over 25 percent. Pakistan has no dedicated credit monitoring authority. However, SBP has authority to monitor and investigate the quality of the credit commercial banks extend.
Though some incentives are included in the federal budget, the government relies on Statutory Regulatory Orders SROs — ad hoc arrangements implemented through executive order — for industry specific taxes or incentives. The government does not offer research and development incentives. Nonetheless, certain technology-focused industries, including information technology and solar energy, benefit from a wide range of fiscal incentives.
Pakistan currently does not provide any formal investment incentives such as grants, tax credits or deferrals, access to subsidized loans, or reduced cost of land to individual foreign investors. In general, the government does not issue guarantees or jointly finance foreign direct investment projects.
The government made an exception for CPEC-related projects and provided sovereign guarantees for the investment and returns, along with joint financing for specific projects. Incentives include rebates on customs duties, regulatory duties, exemptions from sales tax, and lower tariff rates.
Note: sector contacts state that implementation of the EV policy is delayed as the government has yet to finalize the draft finance bill to introduce the duty exemptions. Full implementation is expected in 3Q The Special Economic Zones SEZ Act, amended in , allows both domestically focused and export-oriented enterprises to establish companies and public-private partnerships within SEZs.
Pakistan has a total of 23 designated SEZs. All investors in SEZs are offered a number of incentives, including a ten-year tax holiday, one-time waiver of import duties on plant materials and machinery, and streamlined utilities connections.
Apart from SEZ-related incentives, the government offers special incentives for Export-Oriented Units EOUs — a stand-alone industrial entity exporting percent of its production. EOU incentives include duty and tax exemptions for imported machinery and raw materials, as well as the duty-free import of vehicles.
EOUs are allowed to operate anywhere in the country. Pakistan provides the same investment opportunities to foreign investors and local investors. Performance and Data Localization Requirements Foreign businesspeople often struggle to obtain business visas for travel to Pakistan. When visas are issued, they are typically only single-entry visas with short-duration validity.
Technical and managerial personnel working in sectors that are open to foreign investment are typically not required to obtain separate work permits. While Pakistan announced in its visa and no objection certification NOC policies would be changed to attract foreign tourists and businesspeople, the new visa policies do not apply to U. In February , Pakistan shifted to a percent e-visa policy to facilitate business and tourism travel. Foreign investors are allowed to sign technical agreements with local investors without disclosing proprietary information.
Likewise, there are no specific performance requirements for foreign entities operating in the country. Similarly, there are no special performance requirements on the basis of origin of the investment. However, onerous requirements exist for foreign citizen board members of Pakistani companies, including additional documents required by the SECP as well as vetting by the Ministry of Interior.
Such requirements discourage foreign nationals from becoming board members of Pakistani companies. There are currently no requirements for foreign IT providers to turn over source code or provide access to encryption. However, the Government of Pakistan has plans to introduce regulations requiring this. The rules are also slated to be applied to internet service providers.
There is no data with respect to the percentage of land with clear title and land title issues are common. With the exception of the agricultural sector, where foreign ownership is limited to 60 percent, no specific regulations regarding the leasing of land or acquisition by foreign or non-resident investors exists.
Corporate farming by foreign-controlled companies is permitted if the subsidiaries are incorporated in Pakistan. There are no limits on the size of corporate farmland holdings, and foreign companies can lease farmland for up to 50 years, with renewal options.
The Industrial Property Order safeguards industrial property in Pakistan against government use of eminent domain without sufficient compensation for both foreign and domestic investors. The Foreign Private Investment Promotion and Protection Act guarantees the remittance of profits earned through the sale or appreciation in value of property.
Though protections for legal purchasers of land are provided, even if unoccupied, land titles remains a challenge. Improvements to land titling have been made by the Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial governments who have dedicated significant resources to digitizing land records. In the newly merged tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, land rights are held collectively by the tribes, not privately by individuals and there are functionally no ownership records.
However, the provincial government is currently undertaking a long-term land registration process in the newly merged districts for tribally owned land. In urban centers, undocumented possession of unoccupied land, squatting, is a continuing issue.
However, if it can be proven that the land was acquired legally, government agencies are supportive of the legal owner taking possession of their property. Intellectual Property Rights The Government of Pakistan has identified protecting intellectual property IP rights as a reform priority and has taken concrete steps over the last two decades to strengthen its IP regime.
In , Pakistan created the Intellectual Property Office IPO to consolidate government control over trademarks, patents, and copyrights. The Intellectual Property Office as an institution has historically suffered from leadership turnover, limited resources, and a lack of government attention. The IPO Act stipulates a three-year term, person policy board with at least five seats dedicated to the private sector.
As a result, no policy board meeting was held during the year. IPO is severely under-resourced in human capital, currently working at only 52 percent of its approved staffing. New hiring rules await final approval from the Ministry of Law. IPO aims to start recruiting new staff once these rules are approved by the Ministry of Law.
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