Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Vietnam's 15th National Assembly passed Law 44/2024/QH15 on 21 November 2024, comprehensively amending the 2016 Law on Pharmacy. The law liberalises foreign-invested enterprise (FIE) rights — permitting FIEs to wholesale self-imported drugs and APIs and to operate pharmacy chains for the first time — while introducing a special investment-incentive tier for pharma projects capitalised at ≥ VND 3,000 billion (≈ USD 120m) with ≥ VND 1,000 billion disbursed within three years. Online retail of non-prescription drugs is formally legalised as a distinct regulated business activity. Most provisions take effect 1 July 2025; selected marketing-authorisation renewal procedures took effect 1 January 2025. Implementing Decree 163/2025/ND-CP, effective 1 July 2025, provides detailed operational guidance.

Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued Decision No. 53 of 2024, amending the conditions governing foreign ownership in commercial activities, effective 18 October 2024. The reform permits 100% foreign ownership of commercial enterprises — including wholesale and retail trade and authorized distribution — without a mandatory Bahraini local partner, where the foreign company operates in at least 10 countries or generates annual revenue above EUR 750 million. It simultaneously reduces the minimum capital requirement for foreign-owned companies in Bahrain by 95%, from BHD 2,000,000 (~EUR 5m) to BHD 100,000 (~EUR 240,000), materially expanding the addressable foreign-investor pool to mid-market commercial enterprises.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a final rule amending three sanctions programs. The rule adds a new general license at 31 CFR § 525.512 to the Burma Sanctions Regulations authorizing the provision of agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, replacement parts and components for medical devices, and software updates for medical devices to individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked. It also updates the authorities section of the Burma Sanctions Regulations to reflect recent legislation, replaces "the Office of Foreign Assets Control" / "the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control" with the acronym "OFAC" in three sections of the Sudan Stabilization Sanctions Regulations, and corrects a cross-reference in the Ukraine-/Russia- Related Sanctions Regulations. The rule is effective on publication.

Moldova's Cabinet of Ministers approved Government Decision HG 280/2024 on 17 April 2024, adopting the National Industrial Development Programme 2024-2028 (Programul Național de Dezvoltare Industrială pentru 2024-2028). The programme sets a manufacturing GDP-share target from 8.2% (2023 baseline) to 11.5% by 2028 and at least 25% industrial-production volume growth, with priority given to six sectors: electronics, chemical-pharmaceutical, auto-components, textiles, construction materials, and food industry. It operationalises Moldova's EU-candidacy industrial-alignment commitments under the EU Reform and Growth Facility (€1.9bn 2024-2027 envelope) and the national development strategy European Moldova 2030. A Regional State Aid Scheme for Investments — launched January 2025 under HG 280/2024 — provides grants covering up to 60% (large/medium enterprises) or 75% (small enterprises) of qualifying investments above a MDL 10 million threshold, combined with a 75% income-tax exemption, targeting approximately 150 enterprises with ~€100 million in total state aid through 2034.

On 21 March 2024, President William Ruto formally launched Kenya's Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2027 (MTP IV) at State House Nairobi, the final five-year implementation plan under the Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint. MTP IV is the operational vehicle for the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the Ruto administration's foundational industrial-policy and value-chain framework. The plan organises Kenya's industrial-policy push around five core BETA pillars and nine value chains: agro-processing (incl. edible-oil crops, leather, dairy, tea), textiles and apparel, housing and settlement, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, digital superhighway and creative economy, manufacturing (incl. automotive and EV motorcycle and vehicle assembly), MSME and cooperative sector strengthening, and blue-economy/natural-resource value addition. Implementation is anchored in County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) across all 47 counties and in the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs). MTP IV is the umbrella framework shaping Kenya's domestic industrial-incentive architecture, foreign-investment priorities, and AfCFTA positioning over 2023-2027. Subsequent sectoral instruments — including the Mining Royalty Collection and Management Regulations 2024 — operate within this policy perimeter. This is the first KE foundational industrial-policy filing in the register.

Belgium's Loi du 29 février 2024 (published in the Moniteur Belge on 27 May 2024, entering into force 1 June 2026) establishes the first comprehensive federal authorisation and traceability regime for pharmaceutical raw materials used by pharmacists in extemporaneous and magistral preparations. Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of covered materials must obtain AFMPS authorisation and comply with Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Distribution Practice standards; pharmacists may only source materials from authorised actors. The statute was enacted during Belgium's EU Council Presidency (H1 2024) and directly parallels the EU Critical Medicines Alliance architecture launched in Leuven on 24 April 2024, positioning Belgium as the first EU member state to operationalise a national supply-chain control layer for pharmaceutical compounding raw materials ahead of the forthcoming EU Critical Medicines Act.

Three-year export-promotion policy issued by the Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce on 25 February 2024 covering FY2024-25 through FY2026-27. Sets a $110bn merchandise+services export target by FY2026-27 (vs. ~$56bn FY2023-24 base), restructures the cash-incentive regime, and designates "highest priority" and "special development" sectors including ready-made garments, leather, jute, ICT, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, light engineering, and plastics. Explicitly designed as the transition framework for navigating Bangladesh's LDC graduation (effective 24 November 2026), at which point the country will lose EU Everything-But-Arms duty-free access and face an estimated 10% average MFN tariff on EU exports.