Services Malaysia subscribes to the principle of progressive liberalization within the context of its overall development strategy. Although Malaysia has no immediate plans to liberalize current restrictions on foreign service providers, it is participating in the services negotiations of the Doha Development Round.
Consistent with Malaysian policy of greater market orientation and international integration, Malaysia has taken a number of steps to liberalize the financial services sector since the entry into force of the WTO financial services agreement. These include the issuance of three new Islamic banking licenses, the removal of the 50 percent limit on credit facilities available to non-resident companies from foreign owned Malaysian banks and permission for locally incorporated foreign banks to offer full-range, transactional internet banking services.
Investment Malaysia generally encourages foreign investment in the form of acquisitions, mergers and takeovers. Equity requirements have been liberalized so that only 30 percent of Bumiputera equity is necessary, except for the manufacturing sector, where 100% foreign equity is permitted. Malaysia has liberalized the foreign exchange control measures imposed in 1998 with the exception of certain rules to prevent the internationalization of the ringgit.
The government has decided to consolidate its shareholdings through the Ministry of Finance (MoF) of listed companies into one designated investment holding vehicle, which is Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Khazanah).
Standards and Conformance Considerable progress has been made towards the alignment of Malaysian standards to international standards; in 1996, 30 percent of Malaysian standards were aligned internationally, a level which increased to 50 percent in 2004.
Malaysia is active in negotiating mutual recognition agreements with several APEC economies based upon the guidelines established by the governing international bodies in order to ensure transparency and ready acceptance.
Malaysian expertise in the efficient administration of internationally accepted standards provides a strong competitive advantage for the development of a ?halal? food hub for Muslim consumers globally. Government Procurement Malaysia is not a member of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and intends to maintain the requirement that all government agencies procure supplies and services from local sources. Malaysia has always aimed to achieve a high standard of transparency in its procurement policies and practices; efforts to improve transparency and increase competition in government procurement have been a continuous exercise.
In 2000, the Government introduced an electronic procurement (eP) system, an internet-based on-line system which is designed to encourage competition among contractors and to expedite the procurement processes. The development of the eP system also aims to reduce bidding costs and make the process more efficient and transparent.
Customs Issues Malaysian law allows for the establishment of free trade zones and Licensed Manufacturing Warehouses (LMWs) on a non-discriminatory basis between domestic and foreign companies. The import of raw materials and components used in the manufacture of goods for export are not subjected to any customs duties unless introduced into Malaysian customs territory.
Malaysia Customs deploys a variety of combat smuggling methods focusing upon high risk goods and high risk companies. Post Audit clearance, scanning devices, drug detection and investment in ICT tools are among the devices used. Intellectual Property Rights During the last 5 years, the Malaysian enforcement agencies organized under The Copyright Task Force conducted 116,195 raids resulting in 32,485 cases relating to copyright infringement and the seizure of goods worth RM 257.96 million. The formation of the Anti-Counterfeit Task Force has also helped to build closer networking among trade mark owners, government agencies and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. Between 2002 and October 2004 the Ministry succeeded in seizing counterfeit goods worth RM92.7 million in 10,213 cases.
Competition Policy Malaysia does not currently have a comprehensive competition law but recognizes that a competition policy is an essential component of modern policy infrastructure in the global economy. The Eighth Malaysia Development Plan states that, "...a fair trade policy and law will be formulated to prevent anti-competitive behaviour such as collusion, cartel price fixing, market allocation and the abuse of market power..."
Although there is no national competition policy, Malaysia does have important legislation to address competition issues in the communications and multimedia, and energy sectors. The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, prohibits "any conduct which has the purpose of substantially lessening competition in a communications market."
Deregulation Malaysia has complied with the WTO Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) agreement. Local content requirements are no longer imposed on applications for investment incentives. As noted in paragraph 30 the local content policy for the automotive industry was phased-out at the end of 2003.
Implementation of WTO Obligations Malaysia is in full compliance with its obligations under the WTO.
Dispute Mediation In addition to its WTO rights and obligations respecting dispute settlement, Malaysia is also a party to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (Washington Convention) in 1966. Malaysia also acceded to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) in 1985.
Mobility of Business People Malaysia combines the policy objective of continuous skills development of its work force with a transparent and well structured approach to the employment of foreign expatriate personnel intended to improvement the investment environment and the transfer of technology and skills. In 2003, Malaysia introduced significant liberalization of the rules governing the employment of such personnel.
