Regional Round-Up: Malaysia Q4 2020 (Year in Review Edition)

The year 2020 has brought about unprecedented challenges and changes to life as we know it. To meet these challenges, Malaysia, like many other economies, adopted measures to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such measures included the implementation of Movement Control Orders (“MCOs“) to curb the spread of COVID-19 and the provision of financial assistance through an economic stimulus package to targeted individuals, small and medium enterprises and industries.

In this regard, the Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Act 2020 came into force on 23 October 2020. Further, several legislative amendments and initiatives were implemented to address the changes and challenges brought about by the pandemic. These included the extension of time for corporations to conduct their virtual annual general meetings, proposed amendments to the Insolvency Act 1967 to mitigate the financial ramifications of the pandemic, guidance on compliance with personal data protection requirements in relation to the collection, processing and storage of personal data by businesses during the MCO, and issuance of the Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy 2020 – 2024.

We also looked at creating awareness about the risks of corruption to companies in light of the coming into force of Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 on 1 June 2020.

Additionally, there have been key developments in areas such as trade, employment and renewable energy which include:

• Malaysia becoming a signatory to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, which is expected to lower trade barriers;
• the expansion of coverage of the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities Act 1990 to cover all employees in addition to those employed to work on estates;
• case law development on what constitutes sexual harassment;
• case law development on when an employee’s fixed term contract is, in reality, a permanent contract;
• the launch of the fourth competitive bidding process for the development of up to 1,000MWac of large scale solar power plants in Malaysia; and
• the issuance of Guidelines for the Reporting Framework for Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons.

As we progress into 2021, we expect to see developments in several areas of law including the following:

• Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020;
• Companies (Amendment) Bill 2020;
• Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2020; and
• Malaysian Space Board Bill 2020.