For 35 years, Iraq operated under a socialist regime with laws enacted from within this ideology. The Coalition Provisional Authority, in co-ordination with the Iraq governing council, is now in the process of reforming its laws and legal practices.
One of the most important of these reforms, the Foreign Investment Law, was passed in September 2003. It permits unrestricted investment by foreign investors in most sectors of the Iraq economy, except for oil, minerals, banking and insurance (the Banking Law has subsequently been enacted). The Investment Law was mainly enacted to attract investors on projects and productive factories. It allows foreigners to establish wholly foreign-owned business entities in Iraq, including subsidiaries of foreign investment, business activities jointly with Iraqis, and branch offices. Therefore, for the first time in four decades of Iraqi legislation, Iraq has enacted a law that allows total foreign ownership.
