Business
Open foreign investment with national treatment guaranteed by statute
The Law on Investments guarantees national treatment and free repatriation of profits. Limited liability companies are the standard form and can be wholly foreign-owned in most sectors.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Registration with the Ministry of Justice on a one-stop basis; sector licences from the relevant regulator.
Governing law
- Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic
- Law on Investments in the Kyrgyz Republic2003
- Law on Economic Partnerships and Companies
In practice
Company registration is comparatively fast and there is no minimum charter capital for a limited liability company. The investment law provides a stabilisation guarantee against adverse legal change and permits international arbitration of investor-state disputes, though the mining sector has produced repeated disputes over licence revocation, most prominently around Kumtor. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, which sets external tariffs and technical regulations, and this has become the dominant factor in cross-border trade.