Laws pass through the legislative process in Myanmar as follows:
If a Bill is not enacted as a law within 14 days from the date of receipt of the Bill at the President Office, it must be returned to the Assembly with the President’s comments.
The Patent, Design and Trademark laws are now at stage 6; they are due to be signed into effect. However the challenge now lies in stage 7, because of the program of implementation required for registration based IP rules. Implementing rules, a new IP Office, the oversight committee and a physical move to the Ministry of Commerce all need to be planned and scheduled before the Notification can be issued. Once these laws have a date of entry into force, IP owners must be able to file their patents, designs and trademarks. Right now the implementation team is working with the Ministry of Commerce to create the plans to put everything in place so that the Notification can be issued.
Meanwhile the Copyright Bill is at stage 5. This law does not have mandatory registration of course, so it can take effect immediately. However there are concerns about how the law will apply to certain existing translations and music (which could be rendered infringing), and how the transition period will work. Potentially some debates need to be resolved before the President can sign it.
