Special Economic Zone Enterprise Facilitation

A Special Economic Zone is a geographically delineated region of a country that is dedicated to attracting inward foreign investors to establish their operations in the zone through the provision of more liberalised infrastructure, fiscal and regulatory policies than that provided for in other parts of the domestic economy. 

Special Economic Zones come in many different forms, depending on the type of incentives that the zone offers:

• special industrial zone
• urban enterprise zone
• free trade zone
• investment promotion zone
• foreign trade zone
• export processing zone
• industrial estate
• technology park

Most Special Economic Zones are situated in developing countries and can be found in all of the world’s regions.

Types of Incentives

The types of incentives offered to Special Economic Zone enterprises may consist of one or more of the following:

• exemption from import duties
• exemption from indirect taxes
• subsidies and grants
• tax rebates
• currency retention schemes
• utilities and infrastructure concessions
• transport and freight concessions

Special Economic Zone Incentives and SMEs

It is not often that consideration is given to the advantages that may be gained from the utilisation of Special Economic Zone incentives by the small medium enterprises (SME) sector as in many cases, conditions imposed by the Zone operators meant that only large enterprises were capable of setting-up in the zones.

In recent times, however, there has been a discernable push by host countries to attract the SME sector to invest in their economies and careful structuring of a business that is involved in international trade and export of goods or services and/or manufacturing to take into account inward foreign investment incentives and concessions offered by various jurisdictions may result in tremendous cost-savings for the SME.

These incentives and concessions would include those offered by Special Economic Zone operators and those offered by host countries as a matter of their general or discretionary economic and fiscal policies (refer to our Other FDI Incentives section for further information on other incentives).

Our Expertise

We facilitate the establishment of businesses looking at establishing a Special Economic Zone enterprise or unit and provide end-to-end solutions, from advice on international business structuring and application for approval on zone establishment right through to physical set-up of office.

Our key expertise is our knowledge of the legal and regulatory requirements of all Special Economic Zones situated in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the companies that are currently established in those zones and the other informal barriers that may exist that may have an impact on the business environment within the zones.

Information on Fees & Charges

(a) Fee Structure

As we understand the regulatory processes of government authorities in the countries we deal in, and have been dealing with numerous zone operators, both public and private, we do not waste our client's time and money in incurring needless charges and expenses.  Our fees are quoted on a fixed-fee basis, rather than by the hour, and are extremely competitive.

(b) Enquiries