IBA launches new guidebook on doing business in Asia Pacific

The International Bar Association (IBA) Asia Pacific Regional Forum has published the first edition of a comprehensive, innovative guide on conducting business in the Asia Pacific region; an area accounting for almost two-thirds of global growth according to the International Monetary Fund.

Titled Doing Business in Asia Pacific, the 535-page guidebook provides regional and international companies with consolidated knowledge and practical insights from expert lawyers in respect of 11 jurisdictions – Australia, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, and Vietnam. A useful tool for both investors and legal professionals alike, the guidebook can also be downloaded from the IBA website as individual country-specific handbooks.

IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum Co-Chairs, Clare Corke and Sky Yang, and Vice Chair and project lead, Hideaki Roy Umetsu, commented in the guidebook’s preface: ‘We sincerely hope that this guidebook will be of great assistance to everybody doing business in this region, or to those who simply wish to deepen their legal understanding of this huge market, which, by all indications, is poised for even greater growth in the coming years.’

As cross-border transactions increase, foreign investors in the Asia Pacific region are encountering multiple challenges due to cultural diversity, and a lack of familiarity with local legal systems and implementation of local legislation. The expert lawyers’ information in this guidebook is aimed at assisting investors to lessen or avoid such challenges.

Doing Business in Asia Pacific covers a number of wide-ranging topics, including:

• business environment;
• business and corporate structures;
• takeovers (friendly M&A);
• foreign investment;
• restructuring and insolvency;
• employment;
• industrial relations, and work health and safety;
• tax law;
• intellectual property;
• financing;
• privacy laws and data protection;
• competition law; and
• dispute resolution.

Some jurisdictions contain additional topics that are unique to them, as well as the common pitfalls sometimes experienced when undertaking business transactions.

Doing Business in Asia Pacific represents the culmination of a year-long project for the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum, which intends to update the publication periodically and to include more Asia Pacific jurisdictions in future editions.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

1. Click here to download the individual country-specific handbooks of Doing Business in Asia Pacific.
   www.ibanet.org/Regional_Fora/Regional_Fora/Asia_Pacific_Forum/Doing-business
2. Click here to download a PDF of the full 535-page guidebook Doing Business in Asia Pacific.
   www.ibanet.org/MediaHandler?id=5bcf5b65-5833-40c4-b4a7-fbd1ffa4d88d
3. Click here for information on the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum.
   www.ibanet.org/Regional_Fora/Regional_Fora/Asia_Pacific_Forum/Default
4. Other business-related items:
   • Perspectives in Practice of the UNIDROIT Principles 2016 – IBA
   • Doing Business in Latin America
5. The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, it was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world's bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.

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