During its plenary session on October 7, Parliament supported the appointment of D.Gangabaatar, who was nominated by the Supreme Court, as member of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia.
Born in 1978, D.Gangabaatar earned a bachelor’s degree in translations from Institute of Foreign Languages in 1998 and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in law from the School of Law of the National University of Mongolia (NUM). He also holds a doctorate in law from the Nagoya University in Japan. D.Gangabaatar is the son of former lawmaker O.Dashbalbar and worked as assistant director of the Law School of NUM, as guest researcher at the Utrecht University and University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Law, and as professor at the Nagoya University.
During Wednesday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice, Supreme Court judge Ts.Tsogt noted that D.Gangabaatar fully complies with the requirements of the Constitution and other laws, highlighting that he speaks English, Japanese, Russian, Tibetan and German.
The standing committee unanimously supported his nomination.
BILL ON FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEWED
Parliament reviewed a draft amendment to the Law on Foreign Investment during its plenary session on October 7.
At the session, bill initiator Kh.Gankhuyag introduced the bill. Under the current law, a business entity with foreign investment must be an entity established in accordance with the legislation of Mongolia. It has to have capital equivalent to 100,000 USD in Mongolia and no less than 25 percent of its equity be owned by a foreign investor.
The bill initiators believe that this threshold is unnecessary for the establishment of a foreign-invested entity, but appropriate to specify a minimum amount of investment to Mongolia if the investor and their family apply for a permanent residence visa in Mongolia.
The legal definition of a foreign-invested entity was revised in the bill to reflect equal treatment of foreign and domestic investors.
The bill eliminates the requirement for a foreign-invested entity to invest at least 100,000 USD into Mongolia, and stipulates that an investor and their family are required to have made an investment in Mongolia to apply for a permanent residence visa.
In line with this bill, a draft amendment to the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities was developed.
The Law on Foreign Investment was passed in 1993 to encourage foreign investment, protect the rights and property of investors, and regulate matters relating to foreign investment.
During the session, some lawmakers expressed their views on the bill and asked for clarification of its regulation.
Legislator J.Sukhbaatar highlighted that the minimum investment has been revised to at least 50,000 USD, which he views “too low”.
Parliamentarian Kh.Gankhuyag responded, “The principle of non-discrimination is not exercised in terms of the 100,000 USD. We do not want to discriminate against foreign investors. There are many complaints from foreign investors operating in Mongolia. Moreover, 100,000 USD is deposited in a temporary account. This is contributing to Mongolia’s inclusion in the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list. In 2020, 70 companies with foreign investment were established in Mongolia. Each investor has to invest 100,000 USD. This is causing problems.”
“The biggest fears of foreign investors are corruption and robbery of government officials,” lawmaker S.Odontuya emphasized.
The bill initiator noted, “This bill will not improve the business environment. The main principle of the bill is not to discriminate between foreign and domestic investors and eliminate investment thresholds.”
As this is an important matter concerning the country’s foreign policy and security, lawmaker B.Enkhbayar proposed a closed-door discussion of the bill, but the majority of parliamentarians did not support it.
