Myanmar junta requires online businesses to register

By Admin 22 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 July 2023, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has required online vendors to register, warning of legal consequences for failure to do so.

The mandatory registration came after the regime earlier this month categorised online selling as an essential service, and said that it would issue regulations governing online selling.

Anyone who sells things online is required to register within six months starting from July 21, said a notice from the junta’s Commerce Ministry. Failure to do so is punishable by six months to three years in prison or fines of up to 500,000 kyats under the Essential Supplies and Service Law.

“It will affect small businesses operating online. While the country is in chaos, such an order will be no good to anyone,” said Ko Zayar Sopyay, who sells dried fish and fish paste online.

Businesses that sell either goods or services online are required to register under the regulation.

E-commerce is a growing sector in Myanmar, offering a precious lifeline for countless households throughout the country at a time of growing unemployment.

“I am running an online shop, and it provides a source of income for household expenditures. It is not OK for us to register,” said Ma Htet Htet from Sittwe, who sells clothes online.

Online vendors said they will have to increase selling prices to cover registration costs and taxes.

Ma Cathy from Yangon, who sells clothes online, said most of the online shops are run by individuals on a small-scale, and they may not survive heavy taxes.

“If they can improve the business system with taxes from us, it is OK from the legal point of view. If not, small-scale online businesses will collapse,” she said.

Under the junta’s regulations, online vendors must be Myanmar citizens and must have an official website. They are barred from providing prohibited products and services as well as products and services that could be harmful to public security.

“The regime is concerned that online businesses will be used to transfer money to revolutionary organisations. It has suspicions,” said a local businessman in Arakan State.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the February 2021 coup and the economy is a shambles with a devastating combination of high inflation and unemployment.