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Welcome to the Lao PDR Official Gazette

Lao PDR Legislation Currently in Force

The Law on Making Legislation came into force on January 29, 2013 and it provides the rules for how legislation comes into force and the role of the Official Gazette. After January 29, 2013, all promulgated legislation of general application at national, provincial and capital levels comes into legal force only after 15 days from the publication date in the Official Gazette. Districts/Municipalities and villages have the option to bring their legislation into legal force by publishing legislation on the Official Gazette or by posting their approved legislation for 15 days in other local media or in a way that people can access it easily.  In special cases where there are necessary or urgent conditions, legislation may be brought into legal force immediately, but in these cases, such legislation must be published in the Official Gazette as quickly as possible.

There is a transition period for existing legislation. All legislation of general application existing before 29 January 2013 remains in force as previously determined until no later than January 1, 2015. Such legislation must be posted on the Official Gazette by January 1, 2015 to remain in legal force. After January 1, 2015, only legislation published in the Official Gazette will be legally enforceable in Lao PDR, except for district/municipality and village legislation that has been posted in other local media or in a way that people can access it easily.

On this website, the official version of a piece of legislation is presented in a PDF (Portable Document Format) format that is an exact facsimile of the adopted or promulgated original text issued by the responsible authority. This official version can viewed, printed and downloaded in PDF format by clicking on the links below.  You can also view legislation in a Word text file, which is searchable but which is for information purposes only and does not have legal standing. 

The list at the bottom of this page shows legislation of general application that has been promulgated and that comes into legal force 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette. [For computation of days of publication, please refer to section “Entry into Force of Legislation” in the chapter “The Legal System of Lao PDR” on this website.] The list is provided in chronological order based on when the legislation is published in the Official Gazette, with the most recently published at the top of the list.

Draft Legislation for Public Consultation

Drafting authorities may also post a draft legislation for at least 60-day public comment periods on this website, but they also have the option to post drafts for 60-day public comment on another website (typically their own agency website) or printed media or other means to ensure that the public can have easy access to them.

No less than 60-day or so for comment period you are encouraged to submit any comments regarding that legislation. Your comments will be directed to the lead drafting team authority for consideration.

Click here or on top of this page to view any draft legislation currently published for consultation and to submit your comments.