Project News

The Japanese government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have been assisting Ministry of Justice (MOJ) of Cambodia through technical cooperation projects which have lasted for more than 10 years. As one of the largest outputs of the projects, Civil Code was at last applied on 21st December 2011.

For celebrating this milestone in Legal and Judicial Development in Cambodia, the launching ceremony for application of Civil Code was held on the day of application, at Peace Palace. The Vice Prime Minister, H.E. Sok An, the H.E. Minister of Justice, Ang. Vong Vathana, Vice Ministers, Secretaries of State from relevant Ministries, and officials from MOJ and Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction (MOL), Ambassador of Japan, H.E. Masafuim Kuroki, and relevant donors etc. (with total of 700 participants) attended to this important ceremony.

The ceremony started from the speech by H.E. Masafuim Kuroki. Followed by his speech, Yasujiro Suzuki, Chief Representative of JICA Cambodia Office and H.E. Sok An gave a speech for cerebrating application of Civil Code. After these speeches, H.E. Sok An awarded the honorable medal to the Secretaries of State and Under Secretary of State in MOJ, who contributed to draft and enact Civil Code. He also gave the award to Prof. Akio Morishima and Prof. Niimi Ikufumi who are the members of Japanese Advisory Group, and Mr. Masayoshi Harada, representative of Japanese long-term experts.

After the award ceremony, Prof. Morishima gave a lecture on drafting history of Civil Code. He emphasized the following points; Japanese side researched the old laws and regulations, practice and the custom in Cambodia, made the draft which would be suit to Cambodia and also bear global standard, and then discussed intensively with Cambodian counterparts (officials in MOJ, MOL, Ministry of Commerce and judges) to finalize the draft.

The scene of this historical event was broadcasted by mass media to all over Cambodia. Furthermore, some Japanese mass media also picked up this topic, as one of the outcome of long-lasting support of Japanese ODA.

Due to the fact that Civil Code was applied, we believe the business environment will be improved and foreign investments will be activated. Accordingly, the application of Civil Code can contribute to the Cambodian economic growth.