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Table 3.11 Financial assistance programmes for SMEs, 2020
Organization: Responsible Business Fund Project, Denmark-Myanmar Country Programme (2016 20)
Kind of assistance: Grant
Specific area (SMEs): Energy efficiency, Water use efficiency, Waste treatment and recycling
Related policy, laws, rules, and regulations: SME Development Policy, 2015; SME Development Law, 2015; SME Development Rules

3.80. The process of formulating standards occurs in six stages: (i) proposal; (ii) preparatory; (iii) committee; (iv) enquiry; (v) approval; and (vi) publication. Through these stages, standards are set under 25 Standardization Technical Sub-Committees [48], whose members are stakeholders from the UMFCCI, the Attorney General’s Office, public organizations, universities, and businesses. (...)

[48] The 25 committees concern: (...) (xviii) environmental protection (...).

3.85. As stipulated by the National Food Law and the National Drug Law, food and pharmaceuticals must be labelled. Genetically modified food is subject to labelling requirements. (...)

3.90. The National Seed Policy was adopted (...) on 12 August 2016, and went into force on 12 August 2016. Chapter 6, subtitle (d), states that "[t]he Government will investigate, in collaboration with its development partners, the applicability of relevant aspects of GMO technology to Myanmar to derive desired benefits. However, it will remain alive to possible negative side effects of GMO technology and encourage the research institution to acquire expertise and skills in practices of modern biotechnology, particularly with regard to bio-safety in the application of GMO technology. Only non-food GMO crops will be partially accepted." Accordingly, GMO imports are allowed only for research purposes.

3.91. (...) The National Seed-related Committee (NSC) (...) does not accept applications for GMO crops that are intended for food crops. The NSC may accept non-food GMO crops, such as BT cotton (GMO cotton), which is intended for industrial crops. The Horticulture and Plant Biotechnology Division under the DOA of the MOALI is the focal division responsible for drawing up a Biosafety Law, a framework, and Guidelines to sow GMO crops systematically. The Plant Biotechnology Centre under the Division tests GMO and non-GMO imported crops, and issues GMO or non-GMO certificates. This certificate is essential for obtaining the recognition certificate for a new plant variety from the NSC.

3.94. (...) the State-Owned Economic Enterprise Law No. 9/89. The Law stipulates that SEEs must operate on a commercial basis. According to the Law, certain activities are reserved for the State. After obtaining a permit under the Law, investors in the following 12 reserved sectors must register their joint-venture investment at the MIC: extraction and sale of teak; cultivation and conservation of forest plantations (except village-owned firewood plantations cultivated by villagers for their personal use); (...)

Table 3.12 Change of situations regarding SOEs
Name of enterprise: Hydropower Generation Enterprise
Changes in situation and date (privatized, merged, renamed, dissolved, transformed, or newly emerged): Renamed as the Electric Power Generation Enterprise on 1 April 2016
Current status: Electric Power Generation Enterprise under the MOEE, composed of thermal power plants under the Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise and Hydropower Plants, and a coal power plant under the Hydropower Generation Enterprise

3.98. (...) Section 2.1 of the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) aims to develop a national policy based on a comprehensive review and assessment of existing State-owned economic enterprises (SEEs) (...).

3.126. The Plant Variety Protection Law, which was subsequently amended (...) was adopted in 2016, and entered into force in January 2017.(...) The Amendment was made on 24 September 2019 to align with the Act of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Convention, 1991. (...)

4.2. Myanmar's agriculture is endowed with relatively abundant land, water, and labour resources. There are, however, substantial risks to farming due to natural disasters, particularly cyclones, monsoonal flooding, and droughts. [3] (...)

[3] The last major natural disaster occurred in 2015, when severe flooding from July to September affected 12 of the country's 14 states and divisions.