FACTBOX-Chavez forges socialist economy with laws offensive

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is unleashing an avalanche of laws to regulate business and promote "Marxist trade," a new push to build a socialist economy in the shopping-mad, oil-exporting nation.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuba who fully embraced socialism in 2007, has steadily increased the role of the state in the OPEC member's economy with a slew of nationalizations and tough controls on prices and foreign exchange.

Following are some of the key laws currently being discussed in the national assembly:

* Socialist trade laws. A packet of initiatives promoted by soft-spoken but hard-left Trade Minister Eduardo Saman that includes an anti-monopoly law, new patent and industrial property rules, royalty and investment guarantee rules, plus limits on foreign investment. Saman has begun with a focus on medicine, calling for restrictions on imports to boost domestic production and revising patents.

* Private property. One of the most controversial laws currently being written will formalize alternatives to private property, specifically governing how communal groups access state property. Free-market activists ran an ad campaign showing a naked pregnant woman and warning the government was planning to strip people of their possessions. Furious, the government pulled the plug on the ads.

* Cars and houses. Prices for vehicles escalate rapidly in Venezuela because of high demand and insufficient supply. Lawmaker Elvis Amoroso is behind a law that would set suggested prices for autos and heavily fine people for reselling their new vehicles. A housing law is in the works that would set land prices and increase state participation in the sector.

* Education. A new education law is close to being passed. The main controversy so far relates to an article that says children should be taught to criticize the media. Opponents of the law say it would reduce parents' right to choose their children's education.

* Elections. Passed in July, an electoral law gives the party winning the most votes in legislative elections more seats than the percentage of ballots it obtained. Critics say this unfairly favors Chavez's Socialist Party, which is by far the country's largest. Chavez currently enjoys a huge majority after the opposition boycotted the last vote in 2005. The next legislative elections are due in 2010.

* Labor. Not yet made public, a new labor law is expected to be passed this year and will likely limit the working day to six hours. It may also change the regulation of labor unions, which have not always been clear allies of the government. (Reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Eric Beech)